Russian magnesium duties revoked; ITC keeps China’s

Feb 10, 2011 | 12:55 PM | Anne Riley

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to repeal anti-dumping duties on Russian magnesium imports while maintaining duties on Chinese material.

The commission said its 4-to-1 decision to revoke the Russian duties on pure and alloy magnesium was based on its belief that lifting the duties was unlikely to incite a flood of metal that would materially injure domestic producers, primarily US Magnesium LLC.

The decision to revoke the Russian duties was not unexpected, AMM understands, since the Russian magnesium sector has undergone significant changes in the five years since the U.S. Department of Commerce put the duties in place. Once a major exporter of magnesium, Russian producers VSMPO-Avisma Corp. and Solikamsk Magnesium Works today earmark most of their output for the growing titanium sector, making the anti-dumping duties no longer applicable, VSMPO-Avisma's counsel argued in December's pre-vote hearings.

"Avisma is gratified that the commission has agreed that US Magnesium is not threatened by imports from Russia," VSMPO counsel John M. Gurley told AMM following the ruling.....