Firm awaits ruling on Chinese exports

Tribune Chronicle
A ruling favorable to area steel pipe maker Wheatland Tube sets the table for a critical vote Friday that could level the playing field for the local company against Chinese rivals.

The International Trade Commission is set to vote whether the U.S. circular welded pipe industry is injured as a result of dumped and subsidized pipe from China, according to the United Steelworkers, which is teaming with domestic pipe makers against the imports. The ITC made preliminary affirmative injury findings July 31.

The vote will follow a final ruling made Friday by the U.S. Department of Commerce that Chinese producers of circular welded steel pipe are dumping the pipe in the U.S. at below their production cost. The department also found that Chinese pipe exports benefit from large subsidies from the Chinese government.

The investigation is the first involving Chinese government subsidies to the steel industry, said the Steelworkers, which represents most of the 1,341 hourly and salaried workers at Wheatland plants in Howland, Niles and Wheatland, Pa.

Pipe and tube imports under investigation increased from 10,000 tons in 2002 to 750,000 tons in 2007 — a 6,900 percent increase, the union reported.

The import surge has cost U.S. producers market share and steep decreases in profitability over the period investigated. Five hundred American jobs, approximately 25 percent of the total work force employed in this segment of the domestic pipe industry, have been lost since 2002 as a result of Chinese imports, the union said.