Chinese nail importers’ duties boosted

Mar 23, 2011 | 05:59 PM | Maria Guzzo

Tags  China, steel nails, anti-dumping duties, transshipments, trade law, maria guzzo

PITTSBURGH — U.S. steel nail producers appear to have come out ahead in the first administrative review of anti-dumping duties on nails from China.

While nearly two dozen Chinese companies received a 13.9-percent duty rate, 85 others were assigned a 118.04-percent rate, the Commerce Department said in the final results of its review on certain steel nails from China. The preliminary margins in the review had ranged from 6.24 to 51.25 percent.

"Having so many companies receive the 118-percent rate certainly should cut down on the volume of imports from China, but we expect that many of these companies—and many are actually quite large producers—already are or will attempt to circumvent the duty order by trans-shipping through third countries like (South) Korea and Taiwan by using fraudulent shipping documents to claim false countries of origin, or by misclassifying imports as non-subject nails (certain kinds of roofing nails)," said Adam Gordon, a partner with Wiley Rein LLP, Washington.....