At the request of Mexican companies Clavos México and Clavos CN, the Mexican government, through the Ministry of Economy (SE), initiated an antidumping investigation (AD) into imports of steel nails for concrete originating in China.
“The request from the interested party is accepted and the initiation of the antidumping investigation on imports of steel nails for concrete originating in China is declared, regardless of the country of origin,” the Ministry of Economy published in the official gazette of the Mexican government (DOF).
Currently, the product is imported into Mexico with tariff item 7317.00.99 of the General Import and Export Tax Law (TIGIE).
The two companies that requested the investigation are part of Grupo CN (formerly Clavos Nacionales de México), but are also supported by Grupo Deacero, companies that together produce 85 percent of the total manufacturing in Mexico of that product according to the report from the Mexican government.
Grupo CN produces 33 percent and Grupo Deacero 52 percent of the product investigated.
Another producer is Truper, although its market share in production is not available, but there are statistics that show that from May 2022 to April 2023, Truper imported 40 percent of the total imported of the product under investigation. Therefore, in accordance with the legislation on the matter, the company was excluded from the national production branch for the investigation process.
The Mexican government set the investigation period from January 1 to December 31, 2022 and the damage analysis period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022.
According to the trade authority, it has the power to impose definitive countervailing duties on imported products up to 90 days before the date of application of the provisional measures, if they are applied.
Data from Inegi, analyzed by SteelOrbis, show that national production of all types of steel nails and steel staples in Mexico decreased 8.4 in July, year-over-year, registering a daily production of 72,450 metric tons (mt) in July 2022 and in July 2023 it decreased 28.5 percent with a daily production of 51,840 mt.
Last June, Grupo CN also requested the Ministry of Economy to conduct an antidumping investigation into imports of threaded steel rods originating in China. 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.