Vallourec Wins Antidumping Trade Case

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The U.S. International Trade Commission has sided with seamless pipe and tube producer Vallourec Star, affirming the industry has been “materially injured” because of unfairly priced imports.

The ruling, issued Aug. 2, paves the way for the U.S. Department of Commerce to issue antidumping duties on seamless tube imports from Russia, Korea and Ukraine and countervailing duties on Russia and Korea, according to the USITC. 

An earlier USITC ruling on April 1 also found that seamless pipe imported from Czechia also violated U.S. antidumping trade laws. Commerce has issued an antidumping duty order against that country.

Vallourec, which operates a seamless pipe mill and a pipe threading facility in Youngstown, first petitioned the USITC in July 2020 on behalf of five domestic producers. The company also operates another plant in Houston. 

The case alleged pipe imported to the U.S. from Russia, Korea, Ukraine and Czechia were being sold at below fair market value in the U.S., undercutting manufacturers here.

“Unfortunately, unfair trade practices have hurt communities in Northeast Ohio and across the United States for decades,” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “Just this year, 59 of our local jobs were permanently cut from the Vallourec facility in Youngstown. Today’s USITC ruling levels the playing field for domestic industry leaders like Vallourec and ensures our economy will be competitive now and into the future.”

In March of 2021, Ryan testified before the USITC, calling on the commission to enforce U.S. trade law and grant relief to an industry harmed by unfairly dumped and subsidized imports. 

The USITC’s determination is final and clears the way for trade penalties to be issued by Commerce. 

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.