China, Vietnam wind tower dumping investigated

   The U.S. Commerce Department this week initiated an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation of imports of utility scale wind towers from China and Vietnam.
   Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than fair value, while countervailable subsidies are financial assistance from overseas governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are contingent either on export performance or the use of domestic goods over imported goods.
   The petitioner for these investigations is the Wind Tower Trade Coalition, which is comprised of Broadwind Towers, Manitowoc, Wis.; DMI Industries, Fargo, N.D.; Katana Summit, Columbus, Neb.; and Trinity Structural Towers, Dallas.
   The merchandise covered by these investigations is utility scale wind towers which are the steel towers that support the nacelle (an enclosure for an engine) and rotor blades for use in wind turbines that have electrical power generation capacities in excess of 100 kilowatts.
   In 2010, imports of utility scale wind towers from China and Vietnam were valued at $103.6 million and $51.9 million, respectively.
   The U.S. International Trade Commission is scheduled to make its preliminary injury determinations by Feb. 13.