U.S. imposes antidumping duties on Chinese, Russian magnesium

U.S. imposes antidumping duties on Chinese, Russian magnesium    The U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled in favor of imposing antidumping duties on magnesium imports from China and Russia.
   In a 6-0 vote Wednesday, the ITC commissioners made an affirmative final determination that the imports injure domestic industry. Imposition of antidumping duties requires final affirmative determinations both from the Commerce Department on dumping and from the ITC on injury.
   The antidumping petition was filed to the U.S. government by U.S. Magnesium Corp. of Salt Lake City, Utah; United Steelworkers of America, Local 8319, also of Salt Lake City; and Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International, Local 374, of Long Beach, Calif.
   Dumping is defined as the import of goods at a price below the domestic market or a third-country price or below the cost of production. A dumping margin represents how much the fair value price exceeds the dumped price.
   The Commerce Department made its final affirmative determination in February, calculating dumping margins ranging from 91.3 percent to 141.5 percent for China and from 18.7 percent to 22.3 percent for Russia.
   According the Commerce Department, U.S. magnesium metal imports from China increased from $18.2 million in 2002 to $20.9 million in 2003 and from Russia from $29.5 million to $37.4 million over the same period.