Domestic Wire Decking Industry Files

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Cases Against China

WASHINGTON, June 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Antidumping and countervailingduty petitions were filed today by U.S. producers of wire decking, charging that dumpedand subsidized imports of wire decking from the People's Republic of China cause material injury to the domestic industry. The petitioners allege dumping margins rangingfrom 116 to 312 percent, with an average margin of 218 percent, and also allege thatsignificant subsidies have been provided to Chinese wire decking producers by theChinese Government.

According to the petition, imports of wire decking from China have increasedsignificantly since 2006 and are displacing sales and market share of U.S. producers. Theimport increases continued in the first quarter of 2009, despite the decline in demand,leading to a surge in market share for China. Imports of wire decking from Chinaaccounted for 95 percent of all decking imports in the United States in recent years.

The increases in Chinese imports have been on the basis of low prices that undercut the pricesof competing U.S. products. As a result, U.S. producers of wire decking have suffered declines in production, shipments and underutilized capacity since 2006. A number ofU.S. producers were also forced to permanently lay off employees.

The financial performance of the industry has deteriorated significantly due to competition from lowerpriced imports, with profits falling to losses in 2009.

Kathleen W. Cannon, counsel to the domestic industry, stated: "The increased volumesand market shares of wire decking from China reflect significant underselling behavior byChinese producers, accomplished through dumping practices and the receipt of unfair subsidies from the Chinese Government. Wire decking is often sold in the U.S. market byChinese producers at prices that do not even cover the cost of the raw material inputs."

Antidumping duties are intended to offset the amount by which a product is sold at lessthan fair value in the United States. Because China is a non-market economy, the U.S. Department of Commerce will determine whether dumping exists by comparing the amount by which wire decking is sold by Chinese producers and exporters in the U.S.market to a constructed cost derived from the Chinese producers' actual input quantities toproduce the product valued at market economy values.

The petitions further allege that Chinese producers and exporters of wire decking have been targeted at all levels of theChinese government for preferential treatment pursuant to various strategic plans thatimplement China's industrial policy objectives, including promotion of exports of value-added steel products. The United States International Trade Commission, an independentagency, will determine whether such imports are a cause of material injury to thedomestic industry.

As a result of the filing of the petitions, the United States Department of Commerce willdetermine whether to initiate investigations within 20 days and the USITC will reach a preliminary determination of material injury or threat of material injury within 45 days.
The entire investigative process takes approximately one year, and final determinations ofinjury, dumping and subsidies will occur in mid-2010.

Wire decking, also referred to as "pallet rack decking" or "bulk storage shelving," is usedin commercial and industrial storage systems. It is produced from carbon or alloy steel wire that has been welded into a square or rectangular mesh pattern. The open meshdesign of wire decking provides a low-weight, high-strength storage platform. Wiredecking is designed so that light and water may pass through for fire protection systemsand, as a result, is usually mandated by insurance companies and building codes for use incommercial and storage systems.

The petitioners are AWP Industries, Inc. of Frankfort, Kentucky; ITC Manufacturing, Inc.
of Phoenix, Arizona; J&L Wire Cloth LLC of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Nashville Wire Products Mfg. Co., Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee. Petitioners are represented in theseactions by Kathleen W. Cannon of the law firm Kelley Drye

& Warren, LLP. AWP Industries, ITC Manufacturing, J&L Wire Cloth, Nashville Wire Products Mfg. Co.