PUEBLA: The Mexican Economy Ministry has announced that it has launched an investigation into wire rod imports into the country originating in China. The investigation follows complaints by domestic steelmakers Arcelor Mittal, Deacero and Ternium during July this year.
According to estimates, the imports of steel wire rod from China surged higher by nearly 281% during the one-year period from April 2014 and March 2015. Also, the products were imported at prices which were almost 12% lower when compared with domestic wire rod prices. The steel wire rods from China were imported at almost 44% cheaper rate when compared with the imports of similar products from other countries.
Surprisingly, the market share of imported Chinese wire rods skyrocketed from 1% of Mexican consumption during the one year period between April 2012 and March 2014 to as high as 5% between April 2014 and March 2015. During this one-year period, the prices of imported wire rod from other countries climbed higher by 5%. On the other hand, domestic wire rod prices in the country plummeted by 15%. Also, domestic wire rod sales witnessed 4% decline during this period.
Local producers, importers, exporters and other interested parties will have 23 working days to provide relevant information for the investigation.
Meantime, the Mexican Secretariat of Economy also announced review of existing countervailing duty on wire rod imports from Ukraine. The investigation period will be from July 1, 2014 until June 30, 2015. It must be noted that the countervailing duties of wires from Ukraine currently stand at 41%.
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