The US Department of Commerce (US DOC) this week denied the Allegheny Technologies Inc (ATI) and China’s Tsinghan Group an exclusion from Section 232 tariff as the JV requires stainless slab sourcing exclusively from an Indonesia-based mill.
The exclusion request that ATI submitted in March 2018 stated that it would have to idle its Midland, Pennsylvania site due to tariff costs. This week the company stated that despite the lack of exclusion, the partners will continue operating the Midland site. The JV with Tsignshan resumed operations at the time in February 2018. General Manager Danielle Carlini stated that the competitive slab cost has proven to be a successful business model through the past year.