The Mexican government reported today that it decreed temporary antidumping duties (AD) of 31 percent on the import of steel nails for concrete on the product imported from China due to price discrimination. In addition, the temporary 25 percent tariff will apply because it is a country with which Mexico does not have a free trade agreement.
“The administrative investigation procedure continues regarding unfair international trade practices, in its form of price discrimination, and a provisional compensatory duty of 31 percent is imposed on imports of steel nails for concrete originating in China, regardless of the country of origin,” the Ministry of Economy published today in a statement in the official Mexican gazette (DOF).
The sanctioned product is imported into Mexico through tariff section 7317.00.99 of the General Import and Export Tax Law (TIGIE).
In addition to the temporary tariff of 31 percent, the Mexican government reported that the temporary tariff (until July 2025) of 25 percent will be applied to said product, according to the presidential decree of August 2023 to combat the global excess production of steel, the countervailing duty was decreed on more than 200 tariff items related to steel.
The Mexican government also reported that interested parties have a period of 20 business days, starting today, to appear before the Ministry of Economy to present the arguments and complementary evidence that they deem relevant.
The antidumping investigation was at the request of the Mexican companies Clavos México and Clavos CN (owned by Grupo CN). This request was supported by Grupo DeAcero, companies that produce 85 percent of the steel nails for concrete in Mexico.
According to the Mexican government, DeAcero manufactured 52 percent and Grupo CN 33 percent of the product investigated.
Another producer is Truper, although its market share in production is not known. This company is one of the largest importers of the product under investigation.
Data from Inegi, analyzed by SteelOrbis, show that national production of all types of steel nails and steel staples in Mexico decreased 17.1 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 with a volume of 22,171 metric tons (mt). In value, production decreased 21.3 percent in real terms (adjusted for inflation) to the equivalent of $35.9 million.
Last year, Grupo CN also requested the Ministry of Economy for an antidumping investigation into imports of threaded steel rods (7318.15.99 and 7318.19.99) originating in China, a product that has a temporary AD ranging from 8.02 to 48.08 per hundred.
In 2010, Grupo CN was one of the importers of black carbon steel nuts originating in China (tariff fractions 7318.16.03 and 7318.16.04 of the TIGIE) that applied a countervailing duty of 64 percent for dumping.