U.S. sets duties for Chinese turbine tower imports

   The Commerce Department on Friday ruled that China and Vietnam have dumped utility-scale wind turbine towers on the U.S. market.
   Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than fair value.
   Commerce in its antidumping investigation preliminarily determined that Chinese and Vietnamese producers/exporters sold their towers in the United States at dumping margins of 20.85 percent to 72.69 percent and 52.67 percent to 59.91 percent, respectively.
   In the Commerce determination, Chengxi Shipyard Co., Ltd. and Titan Wind Energy (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. received preliminary dumping margins of 30.93 percent and 20.85 percent, respectively. Three other exporters – CS Wind Corp., Guodian United Power Technology Baoding Co., and Sinovel Wind Group Co. – qualified for a separate rate of 26.25 percent. All other Chinese producers/exporters received a preliminary dumping margin of 72.69 percent.
   In the Vietnam investigation, mandatory respondent CS Wind Corp. and CS Wind Vietnam Co. Ltd. (collectively, “CS Wind Group”) received a preliminary dumping margin of 52.67 percent. All other Vietnamese producers/exporters were assessed a preliminary dumping margin of 59.91 percent.
   Commerce will now instruct Customs and Border Protection to require a cash deposit based on these preliminary rates. The department requires importers to post cash deposits rather than bonds to cover estimated duties between the preliminary determination and any subsequent order.
   The petitioner for these Commerce investigations was the Wind Tower Trade Coalition, which is comprised of Broadwind Towers of Manitowoc, Wis.; DMI Industries in Fargo, N.D.; Katana Summit of Columbus, Neb.; and Trinity Structural Towers in Dallas.
   Imports of the subject merchandise are cited under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule categories 7308.20.0020 and 8502.31.0000.
   In 2011, imports of utility-scale wind towers from China and Vietnam were valued at an estimated $222 million and $79 million, respectively.
   Commerce is scheduled to make its final antidumping determination for the Chinese and Vietnamese wind turbine tower imports in December.
   If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations, and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes affirmative final determinations that imports of utility-scale wind towers from China and/or Vietnam harm U.S. domestic industry, the department will issue antidumping orders. If either Commerce or the ITC’s final determination is negative, no antidumping order will be issued. The ITC will make its final injury determinations in the China and Vietnam investigations in February 2013.