WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday that carbon and alloy steel wire rod imports from five countries were hurting U.S. producers, locking in duties of up to 147.63 percent on the products for five years.
The ITC's final finding affects imports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Italy, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and Britain that the U.S. Commerce Department said in March were being dumped in the U.S. market. At that time, it had announced duties pending a final ITC decision.
Wire rod is a hot-rolled intermediate steel product used in a variety of goods.
The action was spurred by petitions last year from Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc of Florida, a unit of Metalurgica Gerdau SA, Nucor Corp of North Carolina, Keystone Consolidated Industries of Texas and Charter Steel of Wisconsin.
In 2016, imports of wire rod from Italy, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and Britain were estimated at $12.2 million, $45.6 million, $40.7 million, $41.4 million and $20.5 million, respectively.
The companies that will be affected by the decision include Ferriere Nord of Italy, POSCO of South Korea, and Spain's Global Steel Wire, CESLA Atlantic, Compania Espanola de Laminacion, and ArcelorMittal Espana, a unit of ArcelorMittal.
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British Steel Ltd and Longs Steel UK Ltd will also be impacted, as will Turkey's Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi and Icdas Celik Enerji Tersane ve Ulasim Sanayi.
(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Susan Heavey and Dan Grebler)