Industry sources said Tuesday the overnight negative ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against Korean steel products is raising serious concerns for local mills.
The ITC said that its six-member regulators found that a number of steel products from Korea had caused serious damage to the U.S. steel industry and that emergency import regulation was needed to curb the inflow.
The regulatory body was unanimous in saying that hot- and cold-rolled steel sheets, slabs, thick plates and galvanized steel sheets were harming U.S. industries.
U.S. investigators, on the other hand, found that 17 other items, like electric steel plates, wire ropes and stainless steel pipes, were not a threat to American steel makers.
The governmental body added that a public hearing will be convened Nov. 5 to give all parties concerned the change to present their cases.
A final recommendation will be sent to President George W. Bush around December 19th.
The Bush Administration in June ordered a comprehensive investigation under Section 201 of the 1974 trade act to determine whether or not "unfair imports" were hurting the domestic steel industry.