Cold Finished Steel Bar Institute Monitoring Imports

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Cold Finished Steel Bar Institute (CFSBI) has initiated a new program to monitor imports of carbon and alloy cold finished steel bars to determine whether U.S. trade laws are being violated.

"Members of the CFSBI are deeply concerned about increases in imports and import penetration in the U.S. market," said CFSBI Chairman Michael Salamon, President and Chief Operating Officer of Niagara LaSalle Corporation.  For example, "year-to-date imports through May 2015 have increased over year-to-date 2014 in the following categories:  alloy cold finished bar (13 percent), carbon hot-rolled bar (12 percent), free machining hot-rolled bar (10.8 percent), and carbon cold finished bar (1.5 percent).  We are gathering information on import pricing of all forms of carbon and alloy cold finished steel bars, and working with our lawyers and economic consultants to evaluate whether these import trends are being driven by unfair trade practices such as dumping and subsidies.  We will be able to do this more accurately than ever before as a result of an improved program to collect and aggregate industry data for carbon and alloy steel bars," Mr. Salamon said.

While U.S. consumption of carbon cold-finished steel bar declined by 15 percent in year-to-date 2015, expanded import volumes resulted in an increase in import penetration of the U.S. market to 19 percent.  Similarly, as imports of alloy cold-finished steel bar grew by 13 percent in year-to-date 2015 and U.S. consumption of that product fell by 7 percent, the result was an increase in imports' share of the U.S. market to 40 percent, the highest level in history.

The CFSBI is represented by David A. Hartquist of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, LLC, and Georgetown Economic Services (GES), a subsidiary of the law firm.

Cold finished steel bar is incorporated into a wide range of consumer, industrial, aerospace, and military products.  Essentially any product that contains a motor or moving part contains one or more components made from cold finished steel bar.  The U.S. cold finished steel bar industry produces high-quality products on an efficient and cost-competitive basis, using highly trained workers under environmentally sound conditions.

SOURCE The Cold Finished Steel Bar Institute