At the request of the companies Plásticos y Alambres, and the Mexican unit of the multinational Infra Group, the Mexican government declared definitive compensatory duties of 36.23 percent on the import of welding microwire manufactured in Vietnam for unfair trade practices in the form of price discrimination.
The sanctioned product is imported under tariff codes 7229.20.01, 7229.90.99, 8311.10.99, 8311.30.01 and 8311.90.01 of the Tariff of the General Import and Export Tax Law (TIGIE), published the Ministry of Economy in the official gazette of the Mexican government (DOF).
According to the Ministry of Economy, Vietnam produces microwire with imported wire rod. In 2002, 99 percent was imported from China at a price of $773/mt and the remaining 1.0 percent was imported from Italy and the United Kingdom at a price of $2,400/mt.
In the period investigated, the Mexican government reported, microwire imports to Mexico increased 50 percent, although those from Vietnam increased 224 percent.