If there is a final decision by the US International Trade Commission to apply antidumping and countervailing duties against imports of Brazilian flat cold-rolled steel products, Brazil's Ministry of Development and Trade will appeal to the World Trade Organization's dispute-settlement system, the ministry said Wednesday.

The ITC is scheduled to make its final injury rulings on September 3, following the duty determination by the US Department of Commerce made on July 21.

If the ITC affirms Commerce's determination, Brazil expects the duties to enter into force on September 5.

"The MDIC is following the progress of investigations and awaits with special attention to the US government's decision, in order to define the future strategy for the case, including eventually appeal to the dispute-settlement system of the WTO, in case the US confirms the application of such measures," it said in an emailed statement.
Brazilian flats producer CSN may have a surcharge of 11.31% in its cold rolled products, while Usiminas is expected to receive a 11.09% duty on its goods.

The US Department of Commerce focused the investigation on Brazilian government incentives given to exporters called ex-tariff, drawback and Reintegra.

The ex-tariff program relates to imports of listed machinery and equipment for which there are no domestic counterparts, allowing the buyer to skip paying the normal tariff since local alternatives are not available. Drawback refers to a program allowing tax free inputs for outputs destined to export. And Reintegra is an incentive program that returns to exporters taxes charged during production.

Source: platts.com