Steel Wire Rope from Argentina and Mexico

224 Pages·2010·17.25 MB·English

STEEL WIRE ROPE FROM
ARGENTINA AND MEXICO
Determinations of the Commission in
Investigations Nos. 731-TA-476 and
479 (Final) Under the Tariff Act of
1930, Together With the Information
Obtained in the Investigations
USITC PUBLICATION 2410
AUGUST 1991
United States International Trade Commission
W&shlngton, DC 20436
UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
COMMISSIONERS
Anne E. Brunsdale, Acting Chairman
Seeley G. Lodwick
David B. Rohr
Don E. Newquist
Charles Ervin,
Director of Operations
Staff assigned:
Diane J. Mazur, Investigator
Omles Yost, Commodity-Industry Analyst
Gerry Benedick, Economist
Carey Treado, Economist
John Ascienzo, Accountant/Financial Analyst
Andrea Casson, Attorney
Roben Eninger, Supervisory Investigator
Address all communications to
Kenneth R. Mason, Secretary to the Commmion
United States International Trade Commission
Washington, DC 20436
CONTENTS
Page
..
Determinations ......................................................... . 1
Views of the Commission ................................................ . 3
Information obtained in the investigations:
Introduction .......................................................... . A-3
Mu~ticountry final investigations ................................... . A-3
Canadian preliminary investigation .................................. . A-6
Previous and related investigations ................................. . A-7
The products:
Description and uses ................................................ . A-7
. Product characteristics and uses .................................. . A-12
Industry specifications ........................................... . A-15
The manufacturing process ........................................... . A-17
Like product considerations ......................................... . A-21
lnterchangeabili ty .................................................. . A-31
Substitute products ................................................. . A-33
U.S. tariff treatment ............................................... . A-33
Voluntary restraint agreements .................................... . A-34
The nature and extent of subsidies, sales at less than fair value,
and alleged sales at less than fair value:
Multicountry final investigations ................................... . A-38
Canadian preliminary investigation .................................. . A-39
The U.S. market:
U.S. producers ...................................................... . A-40
U.S. importers ...................................................... . A-44
Apparent U.S. consumption ........................................... . A-46
Trends in apparent consumption .................................... . A-46
U.S. producers• share of apparent consumption ..................... . A-47
Channels of distribution ............................................ . A-47
Consideration of material injury to an industry in the United States .. . A-48
U.S. production, capacity, and capacity utilization ................. . A-48
U.S. producers' U.S. shipments ...................................... . A-49.
U.S. producers' exports ............................................. . A-53
U.S. producers' inventories ........................................ . A-53
U.S. producers' employment and wages ............................... . A-54
Financial experience of U.S. producers ............................. . A-56
Overall establishment operations ................................. . A-56
Steel wire rope operations ....................................... . A-58
Investment in productive facilities .............................. . A-62
Research and development expenses ................................ . A-62
Capital expenditures .............................................. . A-62
Impact of imports on capital and investment ...................... . A-64
Relative financial condition of the steel wire rope industry ..... . A-64
ii
CONTENTS
·.:·.
Information obtained in the investigations--Continued
Consideration of the question of threat of material LnJury ........... . A-65
Ability of foreign producers to generate exports and the
availability of export markets other than the United States .... . A-67
Argentina ........................................................ . A-67
China ............................................................ . A-68
India ............................................................ . A-69
Mexico ........................................................... . A-70
Taiwan ............................................................ . A-71
Thailand ......................... ·. ............................... . A-72
Canadian preliminary investigation ............................... . A-73
Cross ownership issues ........... ,· ................................ . A-74
U.S. importers' inventories ........................................ . A-75
Consideration of the causal relationship be~een imports of the
subject products and material injury:
Imports ............................... : ............................ . A-77
Market penetration of imports ..... ,· .......... ..................... . A-82
~
Prices ............................................................... . A-86
Marketing practices ....... ~ ..................................... , . .A-86
Transportation and packaging ..................................... . A-88
Prices of substitute products .................................... . A-89
Quality considerations .........................................•.. A-89
Questionnaire price data .............................. ·., .......... . A-90
U. S producers and importers· .................................... . A-92
~
Purchasers ....... : ; . ~ .................... : ...........•......•.... A-93
Price trends in the multicountry final investigations .......... . A-94
Price trends in the Canadian preliminary investigation ...... : .. . A-98
Price comparisons in the multicountry final investiga'ti,ons ....... . A-104
Price comparisons in the Canadian preliminary investigation .. ;.·. . . A-109
Exchange rates ..............................................•... .. . A-111
~
Lost sales: · · ' .
Allegations during the multicountry final investigations .......... A-114
Allegations during the Canadian preliminary investigation ..... ~ ... A-115
Lost revenue:
Allegations during the multicountry final investigations .......... A-115
Allegations during the Canadian preliminary investigation ......... A-115
iii
CONTENTS
:-.:.
··. ...
Appendices
A. The Commission's and Commerce's Federal Register notices ........... . B-1
B. ·List of witnesses .................................................. . B-45
C. Tariff nomenclature ................................................ . B-51
D. Summary data including specialty operations ........................ . B-53 .~ ...
E'. Comments on the impact of imports on the ability to raise capital. .. B-61
F. Official import statistics for product categories, analysis of
imports by size, and analysis of specialty products .............. . B-63
G. Marketing of steel wire rope used for critical applications
in mining ........................................................ . B-69
H. Exhibits submitted by Wire Rope Industries on the performance of
mining steel wire rope ........................................... . B-71
***'
I. s allegations o.f purchases of steel wire rope .................. . B-73
J. Lost sales allegations during the preliminary multicountry
investigations ................................................... . B-75
·•
Figures
.....
1. Steel wire rope: Components ..................................... . A-9
2. Steel wire rope: Cross-section of commonly used constructions ... . A.:.11
3. Steel wire rope: Fully-integrated manufacturing process ......... . A-18
4. Steel wire rope: Subject imports ................................ . A-80
5. Steel wire rope: Imports by source .................•............. A-80
6. Steel wire rope: Imports by customs district, 1990 .............. . A-81
7. Product 4: Quarterly prices ..................................... . A-101
8. Product 6: Quarterly prices ..................................... . A-101
9. Product 8: Quarterly prices ..................................... . A-102
10. Product 9: Quarterly prices ..................................... . A-102
11. Product 10: Quarterly prices .................................... . A-103
12. Product 11: Quarterly prices .................................... . A-103
D-1. Steel wire rope: Indicators, 1988-91 ............................. . B-55
Tables
1. Steel wire rope: Previous and related investigations
since 1973........................................................ A-7
2. Steel wire rope: Shares of U.S. shipments of U.S.-produced product
and imported product by end use market, and reporting coverage,
1990.............................................................. A-16
3. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers, location of producing facility,
position on petitions, and share of production in 1990 ............ A-41
iv
CONTENTS
:. . :: ..
Tables--Continued
4. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers' imports, ratio of imports to U.S.
production, and share of imports held by U.S. producers,
· by firms, 1988-90 and January-June 1990-91......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-45
5. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers• shipments, U.S. imports for
consumption, and apparent U.S. consumption, 1988-90 and
January-June 1990-91.............................................. A-47
6. Steel wire rope: U.S. capacity, production, and capacity
utilization, by firms and sizes; and production by type, 1988-90
and January-June 1990-91.......................................... A-50
7. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers' U.S. shipments (domestic ship-
ments and company transfers), by types, 1988-90 and January-June
1990-91; and by size, 1988-90 and January-March 1990-91 ........... A-51
8. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers' exports, by type,
1988-90 and January-June 1990-91 .................................. A-53
9. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers' end-of-period inventories and
ratios to production, by types, 1988-90 and January-June 1989-90.. A-54
10. Steel wire rope: Average number of production and related workers,
and hou.rs worked by and average hourly wages paid to such
employees~ 1988~90, and January-June 1989-90 ...................... A-55
11. Income-and-loss experience of producers on the overall operations
of their U.S. establishments in which steel wire rope is produced,
fiscal years 1988-90, January-March 1990, and January-March 1991 .. A-57
12. Income-and-loss experience of U.S. producers on their operations
producing steel wire rope, fiscal years 1988-90, January-
March 1990, and January-March 1991 ........... ·. .................... A-59
13. Income-and-loss experience of U. S. producers on their operations
producing steel wire rope, by firms, fiscal years 1988-90,
January-March 1990, and January-March 1991 ........................ A-60
14. Percentage distribution of the components of cost of goods sold
as a share of total cost of goods sold for steel wire rope,
fiscal years 1988-90, January-March 1990, and
January-March 1991................................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-61
15. Income-and-loss experience of producers providing both quantity
and value information on their operation producing steel wire rope,
fiscal years 1988-90, and January-March 1990-91 ................... A-61
16. Value of assets and return on assets of U.S. producers' establish-
ments wherein steel wire rope is producec, fiscal years 198~90,
and January-March 1990-91......................................... A-63
17. Research and development expenses of U.S.-produced subject steel
wire rope, fiscal years 1988-90, January-March 1990-91 ............ A-64
18. Capital expenditures by U.S. producers of steel wire rope,
fiscal years 1988-90, and January-March 1990-91 ........ ··~· ....... A-64
19. Carbon steel wire rope: Acindar (Argentina) capacity, production,
inventories, capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90,
January-March 1990-91, and projected 1991-92 ....................... A-68
v
CONTENTS
Tables--Continued
i .
20. Carbon steel wire rope: Chinese capacity, production, inventories,
capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90, January-March :•.
1990-91, and projected 1991-92,................................... A-69
21. Steel wire rope: Indian capacity, production, inventories, .;. -~ ..
capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90, January-March
1990-91, and projected 1991-92 .................................... A-70
22. Carbon steel wire rope; Mexican capacity, production, inventories,
capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90, January-March
1990-91, and projected 1991-92 .................................... A-71
23. Steel wire rope: Taiwanese capacity, production,
inventories, capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90,
January-March 1990-91, and projected 1991-92 ...................... A-72
24. Carbon steel wire rope: Thai capacity, production, inventories,
capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90, January-March
1990-91, and projected 1991-92 .............................. , ..... A-73
25. Steel wire rope: Thai capacity, production, inventories,
capacity utilization, and shipments, 1988-90, January-June
1990-91, and projected 1991-92.................................... A-74
26. Steel wire rope: End-of-period U.S. inventories of imports, by
source, 1988-90 and January-March ......................... A-76
1~90-91
27. Steel wire rope: U.S. imports for consumption by source, 1988-90
and January-May 1990-91....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . A· 78
28. Steel wire rope: U.S. producers• U.S. shipments (domestic shipments
and company transfers), imports for consumption, apparent U.S.
consumption, 1988-90 and January-June 1990-91 ..................... A-83
29. Steel wire rope: Market penetration, 1988-90 and January-June
1990-91 ........................................... ,............... A-84
30. Net U.S. delivered selling prices of U.S.-produced steel wire rope
products 1-7 sold to distributors/service centers, by quarters,
January 1988-June 1991............................................ A-95
31. Net U.S. delivered selling prices of subject imported products 1
and 3-6 sold to distributors/service centers, by countries of
origin, and by quarters; January 1988-March 1991.................. A-96
32. Net U.S. delivered selling prices of imported product from Canada
sold to distributors/service centers, by products,
and by quarters, January 1988-June 1991 ...•.....•................. A-99
33. Net U.S. delivered selling prices of U.S.-produced products 8-11
sold to distributors/service centers, by quarters, January 1988-
June 1991. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-100
34. Margins of under/overselling between U.S.-produced product
and that imported from the subject countries based on producer
and importer questionnaire responses, by countries, by products
and by quarters, January 1988-March 1991 .......................... A-105
vi
......
·
CONTENTS
Tables--Continued
35.· Margins of-underselling between U.S.-produced steel wire rope and
that imported from the subject_countries;based on purchaser
questionnaire respons_es, by count;ries, by products
and by quarters, January 1988-March 1991. .. ·. ... ~; ..................A -107
36. Margins of under/oversell~ng.betWeen U.S.-produced product and
that imported from Canada based on producer and importer
questionnaire responses, by products and by.quarters,
January 1988-'Jtine 1991. .......•.........• ..... ·. ........ ; ... :. , ..... A-110
~
37. Exchange rates: Indexes of nomil,lal and reaj. exchange rates between.
the u.s .. dollar and currencies of 6 specified countries, and
indexes of producer prices in the foreign countries and the United
States, b~ quarter, January 1988"".March 1991. ...................... A-112
,
D-1. Total stee'i wire rope: Injury indicators for U. S . producers•
total ope·rat{ons ......................· . ........................... . B-54
..
D-2. Stainless steel wire rope: I-njury indicators for U.S. producers'
stainless steel 'operatio.ns ...•............. ~ .. .-.. ." ..........• ....... . B-56
D-3. Carbon steel wire rope:· Injury indicators for U.S. producers•
carbon operations .. , .......... ·. ..........•.... ·. ...................... ~ B-57
D-4. Specialty steel wire rope: Injury,J.ndicators for U.S. producers'
specialty operation$ ....................... ~ ........... ,. ......... . :B-58
D-5. General purpose steel wire rope:. Inju~ indicators for U.S.
producers' .g ~neral purpose . operations •........•........ : ......... . B-59
F-1. Steel wire r6pe: Official .import ~tatistics, 1988"90, Jatfuary;.
May 1990, and January"".May 1991. ••.. ~·, .-...... ._ ..... ,. ... ~ ..· .. : . ..... , B-64
F.:.2. Carbon steel wir.e rop.e: Imports and u~s. producers shipments, of
U.S.-produced'product, by siz~. 1988 to :1990, and Jatiuary-Miarch
1990~91 '. .... '. ..•.... "·'. •.• .. ·. ..........: . .. ·'· ..... ~ ... ; .............. . B-68
F-3. Carbon steel wire r.ope: Share of -imports by ·source and U.S ..
producers shipments of u. s. -produced product'. by size'
1988 to 1999,. and January-March 1990-.91 ..•.. , ....· .. , ............ ~ . B-6S
F-4. Carbon steel wire. :rope: .Market share of imports and U.S.· ' ·
producers shipments of U.S. -produced produc:t, by size,
1988 to 1990, and January-March 19,90,.91.· ........... :· ............. . B-6S
F-5. Specialty steel wir~. rope: Shipments of impo.rts and U.S. producers
shipments of U.S. -produced product., by firm,• 1988 to 1990,
. and· -1anuary.;Jµne 1990-:91 ............... ........... : ............ . B-68
~
F-6. Specialty ~teel wire rop~: Shares ·.of shipments of imports' and
U.S .. producers shipments of U.S.-produced product, by firm,
1988 to 1990, · a~d ja,n~ry,.June.1990 ... 91. ............· . ~ ........... . B-68
Note.--Information that.would, reveal business proprietary operations of
individual concerris may not be published and therefore has been deleted from this
report. Such deletions are indicated by asterisks.
: .. ;
UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
Investigations Nos. 731-TA-476 and 479 (Final)
Steel Wire Rope from Argentina and Mexico
Determinations
On the basis of the record1 developed in the subject investigations, the
Commission unanimously determines, pursuant to section 735(b) of the Tariff
Act· of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1673d(b)) (the Act), that an industry in the United
States is not materially injured or threatened with material injury, and the
establishment of an industry in the United States is not materially retarded,
by reason of imports from Argentina and Mexico of steel wire rope, provided
for in subheading 7312.10.90 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States, that have been found by the Department of Commerce to be sold in the
United States at less than fair value (LTFV).2
Background
The Commission instituted these investigations effective April 18, 1991,
following a preliminary determination by the Department of Commerce that
imports of steel wire rope from Argentina and Mexico were being sold at LTFV
within the meaning of section 733(b) of the act (19 U.S.C. § 1673b(b)).
Notice of the institution of the Commission's investigation and of a public
hearing to be held in connection therewith was given by posting copies of the
notice in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission,
Washington, DC, and by publishing the notice in the Federal Register of
May 1, 1991 (56 F.R. 20024). The hearing was held in Washington, DC, on
July 9, 1991, and all persons who requested the opportunity were permitted to
appear in person or by counsel.
1 The record is defined in sec. 207.2(h) of the Commission's Rules of
Practice and Procedure (19 CFR § 207.2(h)).
. 2 The imported steel wire rope covered by these investigations consists of
ropes, cables and cordage, of iron or steel, other than stranded wire, not
fitted with fittings or made into articles, and not made of stainless steel or
brass plated wire. Such steel wire rope was previously provided for in item
642.16 of the former Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS)).