The Ministry of Economy of Mexico reported this Monday that it will maintain the same compensatory duties that it has been applying to imports of cold rolled sheet from China.

This announcement was made public in a final resolution published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).

At the beginning, on June 19, 2015, the final resolution of the anti-dumping investigation on the definitive and temporary of this imports that entered through tariff sections 7209.16.01 and 7209.17.01 of the Tariff of the General Import and Export Tax Law (TIGIE) or any other, originating in China, regardless of the country of origin.

Imports of cold rolled sheet

Through said Resolution, the Secretariat determined the following final countervailing duties:

• 65.99% for imports from Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.
• 82.08% for imports from Tangshan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd.
• 103.41% for imports from Beijing Shougang Cold Rolling Co., Ltd., Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. and all other exporting companies.

Countervailing duty 

On July 11, 2016, the final resolution of the investigation on circumvention of the payment of countervailing duties imposed on imports of cold-rolled sheet originating in China, regardless of the country of origin, was published in the DOF, by which the application of countervailing duties to temporary and definitive imports of cold rolled sheet with an aggregate of boron equal to or greater than 0.0008%, which are entered through tariff fractions 7225.50.02 and 7225.50.03 of the TIGIE.

Later, on May 11 and 13, 2020, Ternium México and Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) expressed their interest in the Ministry of Economy initiating the examination of the validity of the definitive countervailing duties imposed on imports of originating cold-rolled sheet from China.

AHMSA and Ternium proposed as examination periods those from January 1 to December 31, 2019 and from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, respectively.

The product under examination is cold rolled steel sheet («cold rolled sheet»), unalloyed and alloyed with a boron content equal to or greater than 0.0008%, unplated or coated, with a width equal to or greater than 600 millimeters (mm) and a thickness equal to or greater than 0.5 mm, but less than 3 mm.

Also, this merchandise includes raw cold rolled sheet and annealed cold rolled sheet. Technically or commercially it is known as cold rolled sheet or simply cold sheet. In the international market it is known as «Cold Rolled Steel» or «Cold Rolled Steel Sheet».

Features

The cold-rolled sheet under examination is manufactured with carbon and alloy steels, whose chemical composition is mainly made up of iron ore, carbon, manganese, sulfur, phosphorus and boron.

Regarding the dimensions of the merchandise, it has widths equal to or greater than 600 mm and thicknesses less than 3 mm.