Ohio pols begging for duties, $1 billion investment—V&M wavering?

Dec 06, 2009 | 07:00 PM |

Hey, V&M Star, what's up with your potential $1-billion plans for Youngstown, Ohio?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Wall Street analysts, steel industry insiders and just about anybody familiar with the U.S. oil country tubular goods (OCTG) sector seem to think that anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese imports are a foregone conclusion.

Sure, the International Trade Commission (ITC) won't vote on final injury for the CVD portion of the case until Dec. 30 and the AD side will have to wait until sometime in March 2010. But let's speak honestly here. If the Chinese were to prevail, it would be a real shocker. (Hell, we would be surprised if the vote weren't 6-0. We don't imagine there will be any dissenters, even for the sake of appearances.)

Perspectives decided to try to get in touch with V&M to find out whether a green light for the roughly $1-billion expansion in Youngstown might hinge on a final injury vote by ITC commissioners. Alas, we couldn't pry any news loose from the company.

I guess we shouldn't feel insulted. It doesn't appear that Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has any more information. (Or if he does, his office doesn't want to share it with us just yet.)....