Washington, DC – US producers of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) have said they will file an appeal of the negative decision on “material injury” by the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

The AK Steel Corp., ATI Flat Rolled Producers, and the United Steelworkers Union, which represents workers engaged in the production of GOES at ATI Flat Rolled, will join forces to fight the ITC’s decision.

The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, which represents workers engaged in the production of GOES at AK Steel Corporation, also expressed its support for the appeal.

GOES is a flat-rolled alloy, specialty steel product that’s used primarily in the production of laminated cores for large and medium-sized electrical power transformers and distribution transformers.

The petitions cover GOES in either sheet or strip form, in coils or in straight lengths imported from the Czech Republic, China, South Korea, and Russia.

“We are very disappointed by the negative determination by the ITC,” said David A. Hartquist of Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP, the Washington, DC-based counsel to petitioners.

“We believe the case warranted an affirmative determination and that the majority decision contains fundamental errors of fact and law,” he said.

The Department of Commerce, he said, “found antidumping margins of up to 159 percent, which caused lost sales and significant financial injury to the US producers, which in our judgment met the legal standard for an affirmative determination.”

The petitioners also filed an appeal on September 16, 2014 to a similar ITC decision covering imports from Germany, Japan and Poland.

10/24/2014