Aluminium Industry Representatives testify before USITC on final phase of common alloy sheet investigation

Industry leaders joined Aluminum Association president & CEO Heidi Brock in testifying before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on Tuesday, October 30. The testimony urged the USITC to reach a finding in the Commerce Department’s self-initiated case that unfairly-traded imports of common alloy aluminium sheet from China are injuring domestic producers, a press release from Aluminum Association confirms. 

Senior officials from association member companies: Aleris, Arconic, Constellium, Jupiter, JW Aluminum and Novelis shared details on how Chinese common alloy aluminium sheet imports have injured U.S. producers and threatened a key market in the U.S. economy.

Heidi Brock said: “The relief we seek will help ensure that the U.S. common alloy sheet market industry can compete fairly in the U.S.”

“Our industry has not frequently used unfair trade laws to seek a level playing field. But the rapid increase in illegally subsidized aluminium overcapacity in China has left us no choice but to support targeted trade enforcement actions like these.”

In January 2018, the USITC made a unanimous preliminary injury determination that unfairly-traded imports of common alloy aluminium sheet from China are causing injury to U.S. producers. In April, the Commerce Department announced U.S. importers of common alloy aluminium sheet from China were required to deposit estimated countervailing duties ranging from 31.20 to 113.30 percent of the value of the imported aluminium sheet. In June, the Commerce Department announced its preliminary determination that common alloy sheet from China was being dumped in the U.S. market at a margin of 91.47 percent of the value of the imported aluminium sheet.

Following these announcements, imports of Chinese common alloy sheet have declined from around 80 million pounds per month on average to around 4 million pounds per month. The USITC’s pre-hearing report indicates that U.S. producers increased production of common alloy sheet by about 2 percent between the first half of 2018 as compared to the first half of 2017, Aluminum Association said in a press release,

Brock further added: “We applaud Secretary Ross and the Commerce Department for their leadership in self-initiating these important investigations. Ultimately, the best way to address persistent Chinese aluminium overcapacity is through negotiated, government-to-government agreement. But tough, targeted trade enforcement is an important tool for the industry in the meantime and sends a message to China that unfair trade activity will no longer be tolerated.” 

The common alloy aluminium sheet is a flat-rolled aluminium product with a thickness of 6.3 mm or less, but greater than 0.2 mm and is manufactured from a 1XXX-, 3XXX-, or 5XXX-series alloy.  The aluminium sheet subject to investigation includes both unclad aluminium sheet, as well as multi-alloy, clad aluminium sheet.