North American Windpower: Commerce Department Issues Final Ruling In China Wind Tower Case

Commerce Department Issues Final Ruling In China Wind Tower Case

by NAW Staff Wednesday December 19 2012

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued its final ruling in the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of Chinese and Vietnamese producers of utility-scale wind towers.

The DOC found that Chinese producers dumped wind towers into the U.S. at rates of between 44.99% and 70.63%, and that these same producers received countervailable subsidies from the government of China at rates of between 21.86% and 34.81%, according to law firm Wiley Rein.

The DOC also found that Vietnamese producers dumped wind towers into the U.S. at rates of between 51.50% and 58.49%.

The case was brought on Dec. 29, 2011, by the Wind Tower Trade Coalition (WTTC), a group of U.S. producers of utility-scale wind towers. The case covers utility-scale wind towers with a minimum height of 50 meters that are designed to support turbines with generating capacities in excess of 100 kW. The case alleges that unfairly dumped and subsidized wind towers from China and Vietnam are materially injuring the U.S. wind tower industry.

This final ruling establishes the final AD and CVD margins in the investigations. Following the publication of the DOC’s final determination in the Federal Register, and an affirmative material injury determination by the U.S. International Trade Commission, the DOC will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to begin collecting cash deposits on entries of utility-scale wind towers at the AD and CVD rates determined.

“These final results are an important step in remedying the material injury already suffered by the U.S. industry and will force the Chinese and Vietnamese producers to compete fairly,” says Alan H. Price, a partner in Wiley Rein's International Trade Practice and lead counsel to the WTTC.

“Over the last two years, in a period of peak demand, the U.S. industry should have been profitable,” he continues. “Instead, due to the surge in dumped and subsidized imports, the industry lost market share and saw its profits collapse. While competing against dumped and subsidized towers has been difficult for the U.S. industry, these difficulties are compounded by the fact that some of the major Chinese producers are controlled directly by the central government.”

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