For over two years the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry has asked the Department of Commerce (DOC) one simple question: Are the so-called ‘5000-series’ products that have been coming into our market duty-free covered by the scope of our orders or not?  Having anticipated a response last autumn, then this winter, you can imagine our reaction to seeing the can be kicked down the street for another few weeks. What is different about our approach this time is that in October, we not only filed a scope clarification case, but we also filed a circumvention case.  As a result of that, we are now asking commerce if these extrusions are in scope or a blatant act of circumvention in order to evade duties.  It’s one or the other.  There is nothing on the record that suggests that 5000-series alloy substitution serves any other purpose than to cheat the Federal Government of the United States out of duties and the Aluminum Extruders Council out of the full protection of its or...

It is hard to believe that it was only five years ago that the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry pulled its resources, data, and resolve together to petition the U.S. Federal Government to initiate tariffs against Chinese extrusion exporters using illegal and unfair trade practices.  Those orders transformed our industry into one of the most vibrant manufacturing niches in our economy. All across the United States extruders are boasting of new equipment, new market opportunities, and a positive outlook going into 2016.  That is not the case for other aluminum semis coming out of China.  Foil, sheet, and plate are all witnessing the invasion of cheap Chinese imports, which is not only eroding domestic production but also flooding the world with aluminum.  In hindsight it is clear that our industry was right when it determined it would either need to take trade action or watch the market go to the Chinese. So, here we are at the five-year mark. This is the year we w...

The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) continues to press forward with the Scope Clarification and Circumvention Case against China Zhongwang (ZW).  With this effort we continue to put pressure on the Department of Commerce (DOC) to make a decision on the 5xxx alloy issue.  In the background, the Third Administrative Review is winding down while the Fourth Administrative Review is underway. On November 19, a representative of AEC sat down with the DOC to discuss our filing against ZW.  Evidence was laid out to their team demonstrating the impacts that the 5xxx alloy imports have had on the domestic market and the petition filed last month was reviewed.  The strength of our argument lies in the fact that the so-called 5xxx alloy extrusions flooding the U.S. market are either covered by the scope of our trade orders, or are a blatant attempt to evade duties.  Either way, this must stop! According to DOC rules, the Department has 45 days from the date of the filing...

We have had a great deal of activity recently on the Fair Trade front. Over the last few weeks, the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) Fair Trade case has: Requested a full investigation of allegations that Zhongwang (ZW) is transshipping aluminum extrusions through Vietnam and Malaysia into the U.S. in a plan designed to evade duties. Filed a Scope Clarification and Circumvention case against ZW at the Department of Commerce (DOC).  The AEC claimed ZW has not paid duties on subject merchandise they have brought into their warehouses in Southern California and then shipped to their facility in Delair, NJ only to be re-melted into billet. Received the post-preliminary results from the DOC on the CVD side of the 3rd annual review. Launched the 4th annual review process. Continued to push the DOC for a November decision on the 5050 alloy scope request. Please see our special report on the first two items.  This is a major undertaking for the Council and the first time w...

As noted in our post from October 23, the Aluminum Extruders Council filed a Circumvention and Scope Clarification case against China Zhongwang (ZW).  Mounting evidence from private investigators, testimony from former employees, data from online import and export databases, and anecdotal evidence from a variety of reporters and other sources made it quite clear that ZW has consistently and systematically been exporting aluminum extrusions that are simply welded together into what are essentially aluminum slabs.  While they claim these so-called ‘deep-processed’ extrusions are aluminum pallets, there is no evidence that ZW or any of its U.S. based operations market such a product.  It is simply incomprehensible that a company would export hundreds of millions of pounds of these extrusions into the U.S. without even marketing them. The feedback we’ve received so far indicate that ZW intends to do with these extrusions what they have done in Mexico and Vietnam with simil...

The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) has filed a petition against China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd. alleging the company has systematically and illegally evaded duties on aluminum extrusions imported into the United States.  The alleged scheme involves hundreds of millions of pounds aluminum extrusions that are simply cut and welded into aluminum slabs.  Upon entering the U.S. these extrusions are being identified as ‘pallets’ even though the testimony the Council has gathered makes it clear the sole purpose of these extrusions is to re-melt them back into billets. “In late July, the AEC released a statement to the press calling on the United States Government, as well as others identified in the Dupre Analytics report , to investigate issues of transshipment and circumvention by Zhongwang.  We have made our case to U.S. Customs regarding the transshipment allegations, and now we are filing our circumvention case with the Department of Commerce,” said Jeff Henderson, Dir...

Our trade case continues to be extremely active, especially with the big news generated from the Dupre Analytics report.  There are several issues to report that are changing with each week. Administrative Reviews The Department of Commerce (DOC) has still not published the preliminary results from the 3rd annual administrative review. As you may recall, the rates published in June were incomplete and contained a major error.  The DOC says they will come out with those rates in October, but it is looking like they may not do that, and instead, just publish their final numbers in December. The fourth administrative review has begun.  The DOC is selecting mandatory respondents now.  They rejected our request to select ZhongWang (ZW).  Their reasoning is that ZW is not the exporter of record in the trade data, so they can’t justify selecting them.  Therefore, it is likely we will see some of the same Chinese extruders we’ve seen before. Scope Issues ...