Posted on 23 Apr 2024
Chilean long steel producer Compañía Siderúrgica Huachipato (CSH) is resuming operations. This comes after the country’s Price Distortions Commission (CNDP) revised upward the provisional ad valorem duties on imports of Chinese high-carbon steel bar and conventional balls for grinding during its ongoing anti-dumping investigations, Kallanish notes.
The company halted coke production, blast furnace operation, steel manufacturing, continuous casting and rolling lines for almost a month, estimating that tariffs were unsatisfactorily low to be able to compete on equal terms with Chinese-origin final products that enter the country at dumping prices.
In March, the commission proposed to the government to charge the three Chinese companies which supply 100% of high-carbon steel bar (HS code 7228.30.00) to Chile with ad valorem duties between 10.3-19.8%. These now are changed to 24.9%.
Deliveries of grinding balls with diameters less than four inches (HS code 7326.11.10) from four Chinese companies, responsible for 85% of the entries, previously subject to 9.2-22.5% duties, are increased to 33.5%.
The definitive measures must be determined before 28 September, six months from the start of the investigation, CNDP states.
“The continuity of CSH's operations will be maintained as long as AD measures remain in force and allow us to operate in a competitive environment, guaranteeing continuity of employment and commitments with suppliers,” the Chilean steelmaker says. “We are evaluating the irreversible financial impact of the implementation of the indefinite suspension process in the last month,” CSH concludes. The company’s last estimate was for a cash effect of up to approximately $100 million over the next 12 months.
Source:Kallanish
