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• Reinforcing Steel Bar and Coil from Thailand

1. This report assesses an application made by Pacific Steel (a division of Fletcher Steel Ltd) on 8 December 2008 for a review of anti-dumping duties that currently apply to imports of reinforcing steel bar and coil from Thailand.

2. The report recommends that the Manager, Trade Rules, Remedies and Tariffs Group, acting under delegated authority from the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Economic Development, should initiate a review.

Background

3. Anti-dumping duties were first imposed on reinforcing steel bar and coil from Thailand in March 2004. The anti-dumping duties that currently apply will expire on 5 March 2009, being 5 years from the date of the final determination, unless a review is initiated prior to this date. Reviews that are initiated prior to the expiry of anti-dumping duties are also known as ‘sunset' reviews. If a review is initiated, the duties would remain in place pending the outcome of the review.

4. The description of the reinforcing steel bar and coil that would be subject to any review that is initiated is the same as that which applies to the goods which are subject to anti-dumping duty as described below:

5. Reinforcing steel bar and coil imported from Thailand enters New Zealand under the following tariff items and statistical keys:

6. During the original investigation, initiated in 2003, the New Zealand Customs Service advised that certain goods subject to the duty could potentially be classified under tariff items and statistical keys 7228.30.00 11J and 7227.90.00 11B. After interested parties expressed views that those two tariff items and statistical keys did not seem to cover the goods under investigation and the invoices available for goods entered under those two tariff items and statistical keys did not describe the goods under investigation, the investigating team excluded those two tariff items and statistical keys from the investigation. They will also be excluded from this review unless new information requires a reconsideration of this matter.

7. Reinforcing steel bar and coil originating from Thailand is subject to a Normal tariff rate of 5 percent except for tariff items 7227.90.00, 7228.30.00, 7228.50.00 and 7228.60.00, which are free of duty. Under the New Zealand and Thailand Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, the 5 percent tariff rates on the subject goods will be reduced to Free from 1 January 2010. Thailand is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but no earlier elimination of tariff rates for the subject goods is scheduled under the ASEAN Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

Sunset Reviews

8. A sunset review involves an investigation to determine whether the expiry of the anti-dumping duty would be likely to lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury¹.

9. Any interested party that requests a review of the imposition of anti-dumping duties must submit positive evidence justifying the need for a review² and the request must be duly substantiated and made by or on behalf of the domestic industry within a reasonable period of time prior to the date of expiry of the duties.

10. The application for a review was submitted by Pacific Steel on 8 December 2008, which is 88 days prior to the expiry of the anti-dumping duties that it seeks to have considered in the review. The assessment team is satisfied that Pacific Steel's request for a sunset review was submitted within a reasonable period of time prior to the expiry of the duties.

Consideration of Evidence Presented

11. The Ministry interprets the requirement of section 14(8) of the Dumping and Countervailing Duties Act 1988 for an interested party to submit "positive evidence justifying the need for a review" as being a requirement for positive evidence, but not evidence to the same extent as that required under section 10(2) of the Act in respect of new investigations. This interpretation is supported by the international jurisprudence relating to the Anti-dumping Agreement³ and the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures⁴, which has evidentiary provisions that are very closely aligned with those of the Anti-Dumping Agreement.

12. The Ministry considers, therefore, that while an application for the initiation of a sunset review may cover the information on the factors outlined in section 10(2) of the Act and paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the Anti-dumping Agreement it is not necessary that all of these matters are addressed or addressed in full for an application to constitute "positive evidence justifying the need for a review" and to be duly substantiated.

New Zealand Industry and ‘Like Goods'

13. The Anti-dumping Agreement states that a request for a sunset review "must be made by or on behalf of the domestic industry" (Article 11.3).

14. Section 3A⁵ of the Act defines an "industry" as the New Zealand producers of like goods and section 3⁶ of the Act defines "like goods".

15. Pacific Steel has advised that it continues to produce reinforcing steel bar and coil and its status at the time of the original investigation as sole New Zealand producer of these products has not changed.

16. The original investigation found that Pacific Steel produced goods that were like those under investigation. Pacific Steel has not provided an analysis which relates the types of reinforcing steel bar and coil it produces to the goods subject to the duty. On the basis of the findings of the original investigation, however, and Pacific Steel's confirmation that it still produces this product, the assessment team considers that for the purposes of initiating a review there is adequate evidence that Pacific Steel is producing goods that are like the goods subject to the duty. The Ministry is not aware of any other New Zealand producers of reinforcing steel bar and coil.

17. The assessment team considers the information provided above constitutes positive evidence that there is still in place a domestic "industry" in terms of section 3A of the Act, which consists solely of Pacific Steel, and that the request for the initiation of a review therefore constitutes an application made by the New Zealand domestic industry.