AK Steel Applauds Commerce Department's Affirmative Preliminary Determinations In Antidumping Investigations Concerning Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From Six Countries

WEST CHESTER, Ohio, May 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced its preliminary determinations that imports of non-oriented electrical steel ("NOES") from China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and Taiwan are being sold at less than fair value ("dumped") in the United States.  As a result, the Commerce Department will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") to begin requiring U.S. importers of NOES from these six countries to deposit estimated antidumping duties at the time of importation, as follows:

The Commerce Department also reached affirmative preliminary critical circumstances findings with respect to China, Germany, Japan and Sweden.

The Commerce Department's determinations follow the filing, on September 30, 2013, of antidumping and countervailing duty petitions by AK Steel Corporation (NYSE: AKS).  On March 25, 2014, the Commerce Department announced its preliminary determinations that imports of NOES from China and Taiwan benefit from subsidies bestowed by the respective governments.  The preliminary countervailing duty rates are 125.83 percent of the value of the imported steel from China and up to 12.82 percent of the value of the imported steel from Taiwan. 

"AK Steel applauds the Commerce Department's preliminary ruling that imports of non-oriented electrical steel are being dumped into the United States," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel.  "These determinations will help level the playing field by taking away the unfair advantage that many of our foreign competitors have enjoyed for years."

The next step in the trade action will be the Commerce Department's verification of factual information submitted by producers in South Korea and Taiwan. 

There will then be an opportunity for parties to submit case and rebuttal briefs to the Commerce Department and to participate in a hearing.  Following these events, the Commerce Department will issue its final antidumping and countervailing determinations.  The current deadline for the announcement of these final determinations is July 29, 2014, but that date can be extended to early October 2014. 

NOES is an alloy steel that contains by weight more than 1.0 percent but less than 3.5 percent of silicon and not more than 0.08 percent of carbon or 1.5 percent of aluminum.  NOES has a surface oxide coating, to which an insulation coating may be applied.  The petitions cover NOES whether or not in coils, regardless of width, and having a thickness of 0.20 mm or more.  NOES is manufactured using a specialized rolling and annealing process.  It has a core loss that is substantially equal in any direction of magnetization in the plane of the material.  Based on these unique product characteristics, NOES is used primarily in the production of motors and generators.   

AK Steel is represented in these actions by Joseph W. Dorn and Stephen A. Jones of the law firm King & Spalding LLP.

AK Steel
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets.  The company employs about 6,100 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Ashland, Kentucky; Rockport, Indiana; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.  Additional information about AK Steel is available on the company's web site at www.aksteel.com.

AK Tube LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio and Columbus, Indiana.  AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.  Additional information about AK Tube LLC is available on its web site at www.aktube.com.  

AK Coal Resources, Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, produces metallurgical coal from reserves in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  AK Steel also owns 49.9% of Magnetation LLC, a joint venture headquartered in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, which produces iron ore concentrate from previously mined ore reserves.

SOURCE AK Steel