The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday issued final anti-dumping duties on common alloy aluminum sheets from 18 countries investigated, including Turkey.
The duties include up to 242.8% on imports from Germany and 4.83% on imports from Bahrain.
The duties were announced just hours after Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo was confirmed the new U.S. Commerce Secretary in an 84-15 U.S. Senate vote.
The anti-dumping case and a companion anti-subsidy countervailing duty case were initiated under the Trump administration in March 2020. Common alloy aluminum sheet is a flat-rolled product used in building facades and a variety of products, such as truck trailer bodies and street signs.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent body, must approve the final decision by April 15 to impose the anti-dumping or countervailing duties, the commerce secretary statement said.
Germany had the highest anti-dumping rate, ranging from 49.4% to 242.8%, and the largest exports of aluminum sheet to the United States, with $286.6 million worth in 2019.
Bahrain, second with $241.2 million worth of aluminum sheet exported to the U.S., received a 4.83% anti-dumping duty rate and an anti-subsidy rate of up to 6.44%.
The department said Turkey benefited from an anti-dumping rate ranging from 2.02% to 13.56% and an anti-subsidy countervailing rate ranging from 2.56% to 4.34%.
Turkey exported $122.8 million worth of aluminum sheet to the U.S. in 2019.
Other countries included Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan.
“If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD or CVD orders,” the department said in the statement, referring to anti-dumping or countervailing duties orders.
“There has been a revival in investment in U.S. domestic production of common alloy sheet. The key question ... is whether the domestic increase in common alloy production is sufficient to offset potentially lower imports,” said Wood Mackenzie's principal analyst Uday Patel.
“Aluminum demand is expanding rapidly in the United States at the moment and we expect the stimulus to further push demand growth for common alloy sheet over the next two years,” Patel said, adding that imports will likely continue despite the duties.
Patel expects that some of the aluminum sheets will reroute to Europe, where demand is likely strong enough to absorb the extra metal, as well as Southeast Asia where they might face oversupply due to readily available Chinese material.
The duties will come on top of 10% U.S. tariffs imposed on most aluminum imports by the Trump administration under a national security law.
The U.S. aluminum premium was last at $364 a ton, easing from its highest since its November 2019 value of $365 a ton, which it hit on Monday.
