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Ottawa, February 21, 2001
2001-018

Government Pledges to Address Industry Concerns About Dumped Steel Imports

Related document:

• Backgrounder - Recent Steel Investigations by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

The Government and Canadian steel industry representatives today agreed to a three-point action plan to address concerns about increased imports of low-priced steel.

The Minister of Finance, the Minister of National Revenue and the Minister of International Trade, in a meeting with representatives of Canadian steel companies and the United Steelworkers of America, agreed to:

• rapid industry and Government responses to unfair steel trade and strengthening of the steel import monitoring system;
• bilateral discussions with countries engaged in dumping or unfair trading; and
• multilateral discussions to address world steel production and trade.

"This industry is a vital sector of the Canadian economy and we will not allow unfair trading to place Canadian companies at risk," said Finance Minister Paul Martin. "It should be clearly understood that we intend to make full use of trade remedies, consistent with international rules, to rectify this situation."

"The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) will continue to respond quickly to complaints regarding unfair trade," said Minister of National Revenue Martin Cauchon. "In fact, the CCRA has initiated three trade remedy investigations since November 2000 to determine if certain steel imports are entering Canada at dumped or subsidized prices."

If it is determined that the imports are dumped or subsidized, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal will hold public hearings to assess whether the imports are injuring Canadian producers. Importers who try to accelerate imports while these investigations are underway could be liable for retroactive duties.

Today’s meeting also considered the structural problems facing the international steel trade. Globally the industry continues to produce significantly more steel than the market demands. With one of the most open steel markets in the world, Canada is taking an increasing share of global exports.

Last year steel imports into Canada reached a record volume, accounting for 45 per cent of the Canadian market. Canadian steel industry representatives are concerned that many of these imports may be unfairly traded at dumped or subsidized prices that are injuring the Canadian steel industry.

"The Government and industry will use the existing steel import monitoring system to quickly identify new sources of low-priced steel imports," said Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of International Trade.

"We will hold bilateral talks with countries that may be abusing our market. We also intend to work with the industry and our North American Free Trade Agreement partners to find multilateral solutions to the problems facing the international steel trade, such as those caused by foreign trade-distorting practices, subsidies, and production over-capacity."

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Backgrounder

Recent Steel Investigations by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency

• On November 3, 2000, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of concrete reinforcing bar from seven countries.¹ A preliminary determination was made on February 2, 2001, and the imports from these countries are now subject to provisional duties ranging from 25 per cent to 42 per cent. The CCRA is expected to make a final determination of dumping by May 2, 2001. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has begun its injury inquiry and will conduct a public hearing into the question of injury. The Tribunal is required to issue its final decision no later than June 1, 2001.
• On December 4, 2000, the CCRA initiated an anti-dumping and subsidy investigation into imports of corrosion-resistant steel from seven countries². A preliminary determination is expected by March 5, 2001.
• On January 19, 2001, the CCRA initiated an anti-dumping and subsidy investigation against imports of hot-rolled steel from 13 countries³. A preliminary determination is expected by April 19, 2001.

See the following CCRA Web page for more information on these investigations: http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/customs/business/sima/sor-list-e.html.

Steel Import Statistics

In terms of total tonnage, total steel imports into Canada for the last nine years were as follows:

New Sources of Imports

New international suppliers from both Eastern Europe and Asia have been appearing in the Canadian marketplace. For example, between 1997 and 2000, steel imports from Asian countries increased to 1,831,703 tonnes from 271,218 tonnes.

Import Market Share

For the first 11 months of 2000, imports captured almost 45 per cent of the Canadian market for steel products, giving Canada one of the highest rates of import penetration among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Below is a list showing steel import shares of the Canadian market for the last nine years:

¹   The Republic of Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Moldova, the Republic of Poland, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine.

²   The People’s Republic of China, India, Malaysia, Portugal, the Russian Federation, South Africa and Chinese Taipei.

³   Brazil, Bulgaria, the People’s Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, India, the Republic of Korea, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

To see previous press releases on this subject, go to News Release 1998-120 and News Release 2000-087.