herbie bel schreef op 13 mei 2019 17:07:
Bron : ryan notes
On May 13, 2019 By Alice AgoosIn Uncategorized
AMG Vanadium wants ferrovanadium added to a long list of products from the European Union (EU) that the US Trade Representative (USTR) has determined should be subject to additional tariffs following the World Trade Organization’s finding that Airbus received subsidies.
AMG will appear at the USTR hearing on May 15 to present its case. In a letter to the USTR on May 6, AMG’s legal counsel stated:
Hoy Frakes, President of AMG Vanadium, ‘will testify that AMG and the U.S ferrovanadium industry have faced significant unfair trade practices dating back to at least 1994, and that the imposition of additional tariffs on ferrovanadium imported from the EU would provide some relief for the domestic industry, especially as it seeks to expand its production capacity.’
AMG produces FeV from recycled spent catalysts at a facility in Cambridge, OH, and has announced plans to add over 6-million ppy, more than doubling its capacity by building a new plant by early 2021.
Currently the import duty on FeV from the EU is 4.2%. A higher tariff would impact Evraz, which ships FeV from its Nikom converter in the Czech Republic to US customers. In addition, any US traders who import FeV from Treibacher (Austria), Latvia and the Ukraine would be affected.
US annual consumption of FeV is about 16-million lb. Of that, probably 8-million lb comes from the EU and 2-million lb from Canada. Anti-dumping duties on FeV from China and South Africa are prohibitive.
The subsidy investigation of Airbus began in October 2004. In 2012, the US and the EU entered into a procedural agreement, but by 2018, the USTR determined that the EU had failed to implement WTO Dispute Settlement Body recommendations. The USTR, therefore, proposed taking action in the form of additional duties on products of the EU.
The product list is quite long and expanding. It includes FeCr and FeNb. Under Section 301, the USTR can impose additional ad valorem duties of up to 100%. The final list of products subject to increased duties will take into account the report of the Arbitrator on the appropriate level of countermeasures to be authorized by the WTO.