READING, March 28: American stainless steel wire producers have charged wire makers from six nations with dumping products in the United States and asked the government to impose penalties, one of the companies on said Friday.Carpenter Technology Corp said it and nine other US manufacturers of stainless steel wire sought the action against producers in India, Japan, Korea, Spain, Taiwan and Canada.
The Reading, Pennsylvania-based manufacturer said the complaint charged the foreign manufacturers with dumping, or unfairly pricing imports of stainless wire in the United States. The US manufacturers petitioned the government to impose duties of up to 78 percent on imports of the wire from the countries mentioned.
The company said it believes the trade case restore fair trade in one of its key product lines. "We hope that this trade action will result in the elimination of illegal pricing of stainless wire in the US market," William Pendleton, Carpenter's director of corporate affairs, said in astatement.
Dumping refers to selling a product in the United States at less than the price in a home market or below cost, a violation of World Trade Organization rules and US trade laws.
The petition contends that US manufacturers were forced to lower their domestic prices to harmful levels to remain competitive with imports, resulting in stagnant production and lower employment in the domestic industry.
From 1995 to 1997, the period covered by the petition, imports of stainless steel round wire rose 26.7 per cent while the share of the domestic market captured by the producers named in the petition increased to about 17 per cent last year from 13.6 percent in 1995, the company said.
Stainless steel wire is used to make fasteners, screws and bolts, industrial cloth, belts, conveyors and high-pressure hoses.
Stainless wire is a major product for Carpenter, which has invested $20 million in wire-producing facilities in Reading, Pa and Orangeburg, S.C., in recent years.
In a separate case, Carpenterand three other companies asked the government last July to investigate dumping charges against seven countries that ship stainless steel rod to the United States. In a preliminary ruling last month, the US Commerce Department leveled duties as high as 31 percent on the companies named in that case.
The International Trade Commission will make a preliminary ruling in the steel wire case by May 8, the company said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
