US investigates into Sri Lankan steel nail imports in violation of AD/CVD laws

By Nishel Fernando
The International Trade Administration Agency under the United States (U.S.) Department of Commerce (DoC) has launched an investigation into certain steel nails imports from Sri Lanka and a few other countries violating anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) laws, according to a notice published on Federal Register this week.
The petitions were filed on December 30, 2021 by the largest steel nail producer of U.S.Mid Continent Steel & Wire, Inc.

The petition included AD (less than fair value) allegations against India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turkey and CVD allegations against India, Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turkey due to countervailable subsidies given by the respective governments.

“Based upon our examination of the Petitions on steel nails from India, Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turkey, including supplemental information provided by the petitioner, we find that the Petitions meet the requirements of section 702 of the Act. Therefore, we are initiating CVD investigations to determine whether imports of steel nails from India, Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turkey benefit from countervailable subsidies conferred by the governments. 

In accordance with section 703(b)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(b)(1), unless postponed, we will make our preliminary determinations no later than 65 days after the publication date of these initiations,” the  International Trade Administration Agency stated.

Mid Continent Steel & Wire named 11 companies in India; four in Oman; five in Sri Lanka; five in Thailand; and six in Turkey as producers/exporters of steel nails and the DoC intends to follow its standard practice in CVD investigations and calculate company-specific subsidy rates in these investigations.

Based on the data provided by the Mid Continent Steel & Wire, the dumping margins for steel nails from Sri Lanka have been estimated at 35.5-104.13 percent range.

Within the next 45 days, the International Trade Administration Agency is scheduled to determine if there is a reasonable indication that the imports are injuring the U.S. industry. 

The International Trade Administration Agency noted that the copies of the public version of the AD Petitions have already been provided to the governments of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turkey.

However, a top official at the Trade Ministry said the Ministry was yet to be formally informed on these cases.
In 2019, Sri Lanka exported US$ 31 million worth iron nails, becoming the fastest growing exporter of iron nails, while China was the largest exporter of iron nails with US$ 1.42 billion exports. The U.S was the largest importer of iron nails in the year with US$ 1.03 billion worth imports.