U.S. sets more duties on India steel pipe

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The United States piled another layer of preliminary duties on Thursday on a certain type of steel pipe from India, one month after New Delhi complained at the World Trade Organisation about an earlier U.S. round.

The U.S. Commerce Department said it had determined that Indian companies were selling circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe in the United States at 48.43 per cent below fair market value.

The duties will require importers to post bonds or cash deposits based on the preliminary rates until a final decision on anti-dumping duties is made later this year.

The department also set preliminary anti-dumping duties on this kind of pipe of zero to 27.96 per cent for Vietnam, 5.59 per cent for Oman and 3.29 per cent to 11.71 percent for the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. companies Allied Tube and Conduit, JMC Steel Group, Wheatland Tube and United States Steel Corp petitioned the government last year for import relief.

In March, the Commerce department set preliminary 'countervailing' duties of nearly 286 per cent on the same type of steel pipe from India to offset government subsidies.

That prompted India to request consultations with the United States on the action at the WTO, the first stage in filing a formal trade dispute.

India rejects the U.S. view that Indian manufacturers are subsidized because a portion of the iron ore they use to produce the steel pipes comes from India's top iron ore miner NMDC, a state-run company.

The United States in 2011 imported about $64.5 million of the steel product from India, $53.9 million from UAE, $50.1 million from Vietnam and $28.0 million from Oman.