CELEX: 31990R3617
Language: en
Date: 1990-12-11 00:00:00
Title: Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3617/90 of 11 December 1990 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain welded tubes of iron or non-alloy steel, originating in Turkey or in Venezuela and accepting undertakings offered in connection with such imports

15. 12. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 351 / 17
                                   COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 3617/90
                                                   of 11 December 1990
                  imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain welded tubes of
                  iron or non-alloy steel, originating in Turkey or in Venezuela and accepting
                                undertakings offered in connection with such imports
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            to make known their views in writing and to
                                                                       request a hearing.
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community,                                                    During the investigation, all exporters concerned
                                                                       and some importers and Community producers
                                                                       asked for an extension for replying to the Commis­
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2423/88                   sion's questionnaires. Since these requests were
of 11 July 1988 on protection against dumped or subsi­                 considered justified, the Commission extended the
dized imports from countries not members of the Euro­                  set time limits.
pean Economic Community ('), and in particular Articles
10 and 11 thereof,
                                                                  (4)  Most of the Community producers, some of the
                                                                       importers, two Turkish producers/exporters, a
After consultations within the Advisory Committee as                   producer and an exporter of Venezuelan products
provided for by the abovementioned Regulation,                         made known their views in writing. Some of them
                                                                       requested and were granted hearings.
Whereas :                                                         (5)  No submissions were made by or on behalf of
                                                                       Community purchasers or processors of the
                                                                       products in question.
                          A. PROCEDURE                            (6)  The Commission sought and verified all informa­
                                                                       tion it deemed to be necessary for the purposes of
                                                                       establishing the facts and carried out investigations
(1 )    In June 1989 the Commission received a                         at the premises of the following :
        complaint lodged by the Liaison Committee of the
        European Community Steel Tube Industry on
        behalf of manufacturers representing the majority              (a) EC producers :
        of the Community production of the products in
        question.                                                          — Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG, Düsseldorf,
                                                                               Germany,
                                                                           — Saarstahl Völklingen GmbH, Homburg/
(2)     The complaint contained evidence of dumping and                        Saar, Germany,
        injury caused thereby which was considered suffi­
        cient to justify the initiation of a proceeding.                   — IBS (United Tube Mills) SA, Athens, Greece,
                                                                           — Dalmine SpA, Dalmine, Italy,
        The Commission accordingly announced, by notice                    — Arbed SA, Luxembourg, Luxembourg,
        published in the Official Journal of the European
        Communities (2) the initiation of an anti-dumping                  — British Steel Tubes, Corby, Northants,
        proceeding concerning imports into the Commu­                          United Kingdom ;
        nity of certain welded tubes of iron or non-alloy
        steel falling within CN codes 7306 30 51 ,                     (b) non-EC producers/exporters :
        7306 30 59, ex 7306 30 71 and ex 7306 30 79, origi­
        nating in Turkey and in Venezuela, and                             Turkish products :
        commenced an investigation.                                        — Borusan Salipazari, Istanbul, Turkey,
                                                                           — Yücel Boru        Group    Kadiköy,   Istanbul,
(3)     The Commission officially so advised the produ­                        Turkey ;
        cers/exporters and importers known to the
        Commission to be concerned, the representatives of                 Venezuelan products :
        the exporting countries and the complainant and
        gave the parties directly concerned the opportunity                — producer : CA. Conduven, Caracas, Vene­
                                                                               zuela,
 (') OJ No L 209, 2. 8. 1988, p. 1 .                                       — exporter : Connectors Inc., Hauppauge, New
 0 OJ No C 226, 2. 9. 1989, p. 18.                                             York, USA ;
 ---pagebreak--- No L 351 / 18                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                  15 . 12. 90
     (c) EC importers :                                                other general expenses and a reasonable margin of
                                                                       profit.
         — Leopold Lazarus        Ltd,   London,   United
              Kingdom,                                                 Normal value was calculated for each month of the
         — Rheinerz, Koln, Germany,                                    investigation period.
         — Coutinho Caro & Co GmbH, Diisseldorf,              (10)      Venezuela
             Germany,
         — bj\.L.l.S>. i>pA, Sassan, Italy.                            Normal value was based on sales in the ordinary
                                                                       course of trade of comparable like products on the
                                                                       Venezuelan market, net of all discounts and rebates.
(7) The Commission gave the different parties known
     to be concerned the opportunity to inspect all
     information made available to the Commission .                    Normal values have been established on the basis
     Furthermore, exporters of the product under inves­                of the weighted average ex-works sales prices for
                                                                       the tubes concerned.
     tigation were informed in conformity with Article 7
     (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 2423/88 of the essential
     facts under consideration, on the basis of which it
    was intended to impose measures.                                   (b) Export prices :
(8) The investigation of dumping covered the period           (1 1 )    Turkey
     from 1 July 1988 to 30 June 1989.
                                                                       The export prices were determined on the basis of
                                                                       the prices actually paid or payable for the like
                                                                       product sold for export to the Community. Export
                         B. DUMPING                                    sales taken into consideration were made to inde­
                                                                       pendent customers. The products sold for export
                                                                       were identical to those which were considered for
     (a) Normal value :
                                                                       the calculation of normal value. No quantity
                                                                       discounts were granted.
(9)   Turkey
                                                              (12)      Venezuela
     The determination of the normal value varied
     according to the producer/exporter. For Yiicel Boru               All exports to the Community were channelled
     Group, normal value was established on the basis of               through Connectors Inc. located in New York.
     the comparable prices actually paid or payable in                 Connectors has the function of an export depart­
     the ordinary course of trade for the like product on              ment of Conduven. It handles no other products
     the Turkish market.                                               and is fully controlled by Conduven. Export
                                                                       contracts, invoicing and collection of payments are
     Domestic sales considered for the calculation of                  made by Connectors ; handling and shipping of the
     normal value were those made to independent                       goods is carried out by Conduven which ships the
     customers at a profit and in substantial quantities.              goods directly to the Community. The exporting
     There were no quality differences between the                     country is therefore Venezuela. The export price
                                                                       was taken to be that invoiced by Connectors since
     products sold on the domestic market and those for
     exportation.                                                      this company merely performed the functions of an
                                                                       export department of Conduven which would
                                                                       otherwise have been carried out in Venezuela.
     Normal value was established on a monthly
     weighted average basis for the period July 1988 to
     March 1989 falling within the investigation period,               (c) Comparison
     since Yiicel Boru had made no exports to the
     Community between April 1989 and June 1989               (13)     In comparing normal value with export prices the
     (end of the investigation period).                                Commission took account, where appropriate and
                                                                       to the extent of evidence available, of differences in
     For Borusan, the investigation by the Commission                  conditions and terms of sale, such as transport,
     showed that a substantial part of its sales on the              , insurance, forwarding, handling costs and payment.
     Turkish domestic market were made at a loss
     during the investigation period. Consequently, it                 All comparisons were made at an ex-works level.
     was considered that these sales were not made in
     the ordinary course of trade.
                                                                       (d) Dumping margins
     Thus the normal value was based on a constructed
     value, determined by adding cost of production, a        (14)     The above determination of the facts shows the
     reasonable amount for selling, administrative and                 existence of dumping.
 ---pagebreak--- 15 . 12. 90                         Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 351 / 19
       The margins of dumping are equal to the amount               The considerable inflow of dumped imports
       by which the normal values as established exceed             prevented Community producers from benefiting
       the prices for export to the Community.                      adequately from the increase in consumption.
                                                                    Growth of Community production destined to the
       The margins of dumping varied according to the               Community market lagged distinctly behind the
       producer/exporter and the weighted average                   development of consumption.
       margins expressed as a percentage of total cif
       Community frontier values were as follows :
       Yiicel Boru Group              18,5 %                        The effect was particularly pronounced in the
       Borusan                          8,1 %                       German market which absorbed a substantial part
       Conduven                       22,1 %                        of the dumped imports from the two countries
                                                                    concerned during the period 1986 to 1989.
                           C. INJURY
                                                                    In line with the retarded progress of production in
       (a) Cumulation                                               connection with the massive inflow of dumped
                                                                    imports, Community producers could achieve only
(15)   Because tubes originating in Turkey and in Vene­             a moderate improvement of their capacity utiliza­
       zuela are alike and in competition on the same               tion which on average advanced by 5,5 percentage
       markets and distributed through similar channels,            points from 57 % to 62,5 % between 1986 and the
       the Commission considered that the cumulation of             investigation period.
       the impacts of the dumped imports from Turkey
       and Venezuela was appropriate.
                                                                    The overall capacity utilization in the Community
                                                                    thus remained unsatisfactory and prevented the
       (b) Volume and market share of dumped                        Community producers from realizing the advan­
           imports                                                  tages of decreasing unit cost which they would
                                                                    have obtained if production had followed the
( 16)  Imports from Turkey and Venezuela rose from                  expansion of demand. This effect was particularly
       5 874 tonnes in 1986 to 52 835 tonnes during the             detrimental in the light of increasing raw material
       investigation period, corresponding to a rate of             cost following the sharp increase of prices for flat
       800 % within less than four years.                           rolled steel products and zinc.
       The corresponding market share increased from
       0,8 % to 5,8 % in the same period. In the most
       affected Member States, the market shares reached
       7,6 % in the Federal Republic of Germany and
        11,2% in the United Kingdom.                                Prices and profitability
       (c) Prices                                              (19) From 1986 to the investigation period, there was a
                                                                    distinct increase in the sales prices of the Commu­
(17)   The evidence available to the Commission also                nity producers. However, the price increases were
       indicates that the prices at which the dumped                to a large extent absorbed by the higher purchase
       imports from Turkey and Venezuela were sold in               prices of the main input materials.
       the Community undercut the prices of Community
       producers during the investigation period signifi­
       cantly.                                                      The generally buoyant situation of the steel
                                                                    markets and the strong demand for tubes in the
       The weighted average price undercuttings varied              Community also led to an improvement of the
       according to the producer/exporter and were as               financial results of Community producers.
       follows :                                                    However, Community prices remained suppressed
                                                                    and Community producers were prevented from
       Yucel Boru Group               21,2%                         realizing the necessary price increases to recover
        Borusan                         7   %
        Conduven                      25,8 %
                                                                    the rise of raw material cost and to generate satis­
                                                                    factory returns of their sales. Most of the relevant
                                                                    Community producers could not generate positive
                                                                    financial results and have continued to make losses
       (d) Impact on the Community industry
                                                                    despite the very favourable market situation.
        Production and capacities
(18)    Between 1986 and the investigation period                   Furthermore, the Commission was informed that a
        Community consumption increased by 22,9 %,                  Community producer decided to stop production
        while production destined for the Community                 of welded tubes because of the very low profitabi­
        market rose by only 9,8 % over the same period.              lity of this sector.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 351 /20                             Official Journal of the European Communities                               15. 12. 90
         (e) Causality                                                   and Venezuelan exports, taken in isolation, had to
                                                                         be qualified as material.
(20)     In assessing whether dumped imports from Turkey
         and Venezuela have caused the injury sustained by
         the Community industry, the Commission took                     (f) Conclusion
         account of the fact that Community producers
         should have benefited from the recovery in the
         steel sector. However, the serious difficulties faced
                                                                   (21 ) In    these circumstances    the   Commission      has
         by Community producers in extending production
         and sales, obtaining better prices to cope with the             concluded that the volume of dumped imports
         sharp rise in the purchase of raw material persisted,           from Turkey and Venezuela and the prices at
         while the volume of dumped imports offered at                   which they were offered for sale in the Commu­
         prices, which undercut significantly those of the               nity, taken in isolation, have to be considered as
         injured industry were sharply increasing. In this               having caused material injury to the Community
         respect, the import volume of both Turkey and                   industry.
         Venezuela (35 660 tonnes and 17 175 tonnes
         during the investigation period) and the correspon­
         ding market share (3,9 % and 1,9 % during the
         investigation period) were considered as being
                                                                                     D. COMMUNITY INTEREST
         significant.
                                                                   (22)  In assessing whether the interests of the Commu­
         Because the buyer s decisions are mainly orientated             nity call for intervention, the Commission has
         by the prices at which the products are offered, the            considered that the iron and steel tube production
         Commission concluded that both exporting coun­                  is an important basic industry in the Community
         tries caused injury.                                            closely linked upstream with the steel industry and
                                                                         is the most important customer for the transforma­
                                                                         tion of primary ECSC steel products. About 1 5 %
         The Commission also examined whether other
                                                                         of total EEC raw steel production is absorbed by
                                                                         the manufacture of tubes. The sector has gone
         factors might have contributed to the injury                    through a severe restructuring process because of
         sustained by the community industry.                            overcapacity. In 1988 , the sector employed 74 500
                                                                         people in the Community as against 1 23 500 in
                                                                         1981 . Regionally the plants are located in the vici­
         For this purpose, the Commission took account                   nity of the steel producing centres which are
         that dumped imports of the products concerned                   already suffering from employment problems
         originating in Romania and Yugoslavia, which also               linked to the downturn in the steel industry.
         had a negative impact on the Community market,
         have been subject to protective measures (').
                                                                         Downstream the sector is an important supplier of
                                                                         all branches of the manufacturing industry. The
                                                                         most important customer groups are mechanical
         The Commission established that imports from                    engineering, vehicle building, construction, struc­
         other third countries not alleged to be dumped had              tural steel works and the energy sector including
         also moderately progressed during the period under              nuclear. In order to be in a position to manufacture
         consideration leading to an increase of their market            the whole range of products at competitive costs,
         share of 2,6 % which is to be measured against an               the industry depends on a reasonable utilization
         expansion of the market share of the combined                   rate of its equipment. This is principally achieved
         dumped imports from Turkey, Venezuela, Romania                  by the production of standard commercial quality
         and Yugoslavia by 7 % over the same period.                     tubes which are in direct competition with the
                                                                         dumped products imported from Turkey, Vene­
                                                                         zuela, Romania and Yugoslavia and account for a
         As the Commission had no indication that the
                                                                         major part of the revenue generated by the
                                                                         industry. In view of these facts, it is considered in
         slight expansion of the market share of other third             the Community's interest to maintain a viable and
         countries had been achieved by dumping it was                   healthy steel tube manufacturing industry.
         considered that the injury inflicted by the Turkish
(') Notice of initiation, OJ No C 241 , 16. 9. 1988, p. 3 ; Com­   (23)  The Commission also took into account the inte­
    misson Regulation (EEC) No 3074/89, OJ No L 294, 13. 10.             rests   of the  users of Turkish    and Venezuelan
    1989, p. 10 ; Council Regulation (EEC) No 868/90, OJ No L
    91 , 6. 4. 1990, p. 8 ; Commission Decision 90/ 166/EEC, OJ          welded tubes and considered that the secondary
    No L 91 , 6. 4. 1990, p. 36.                                         effects of the necessary price increases in respect of
 ---pagebreak--- 15 . 12. 90                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 351 /21
       the output of the main downstream branches                      other cases the dumping margin will be eliminated
       mentioned above will be insignificant. No submis­               in full .
       sions to the contrary were made by or on behalf of
       Community purchasers or processors of the welded                Moreover the Commission notes that in case of
       steel tubes concerned.                                          violation of these price undertakings it can impose
                                                                       immediate provisional duties and the Council can
                                                                       then impose definitive duties based on the facts
                   E. PROTECTIVE MEASURES
                                                                       established in the present investigation, without
                                                                       carrying out new investigations concerning
                                                                       dumping and injury resulting thereform.
(24)   Given the serious difficulties facing the Commu­
       nity industry concerned, the Commission has
       concluded that, in order to maintain the effective­                            G. RESIDUAL DUTIES
       ness of the measures already imposed against
       dumped imports from Romania and Yugoslavia               (29)   In order to cover other companies which did not
       and to avoid discrimination, action should be taken             cooperate during the investigation period and to
       also against dumped imports from Turkey and                     prevent circumvention, it is considered appropriate
       Venezuela .                                                     to impose provisional anti-dumping duties.
                                                                       Since the price undercuttings of some exporters
       The    Commission    considers   that   the situation
                                                                       exceeded the dumping margin, the rate of these
       warrants the imposition of provisional measures at              duties should correspond to the highest dumping
       this stage of the proceeding in order to prevent                 margin found for each country. It is established at :
       further injury being caused during the remainder of
       the proceeding.                                                  18,5 % for Turkey,
                                                                       22,1 % for Venezuela.
(25)   Having regard to the injury caused, the Commis­
       sion intended to impose provisional duties at a rate             Indeed, it would constitute a bonus for non-coope­
       adequate to remove the injury but not exceeding                  ration to hold that the duties for these producers/
       the dumping margins established. Since the injury                exporters were any lower than the highest anti­
       consists mainly in loss of profitability due to price            dumping duty determined.
       undercutting, the Commission considered neces­
       sary to eliminate price undercutting due to                                       H. CONCLUSION
       dumping.
                                                                 (30)   In the light of the above findings, it is considered
       Consequently, the duty necessary to remove injury                that the interests of the Community require the
       was calculated on the basis of the price undercut­               imposition of protective measures.
       ting or the dumping margin of each exporter,
       whichever was the lowest.                                 (31 ) The Commission is of the opinion that the price
                                                                        undertakings offered can be accepted for the
                                                                        producers/exporters concerned and that the investi­
                                                                       gation against these companies may be terminated.
                       F. UNDERTAKINGS
                                                                 (32)  A provisional duty should be imposed on imports
(26)   The Turkish and Venezuelan producers/exporters                   of the product in question originating in Turkey
       which cooperated during the investigation having                 and in Venezuela realized by companies other than
       been informed of the preliminary findings of the                 these which have offered undertakings.
       Commission services with regard to dumping and
       injury have offered price undertakings.                   (33)  The Advisory Committee has been consulted with
                                                                        regard to this course of action and has raised no
                                                                        objection to the proposals.
(27)   The Yiicel Boru Group, which was considered as a
       single economic entity for the purposes of this           (34)   A period should be fixed within which the parties
       investigation, has pointed out that it was composed              concerned may make their views known and
       of two producing companies and one exporting                     request a hearing,
       company, which may export in the future under its
       own separate names. Consequently, price underta­
       kings have been offered in the name of each of            HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
       these three companies.
(28)   The Commission is satisfied that the effect of these                               Article 1
       undertakings offered by the Turkish and Venezu­
       elan producers/exporters will be an increase of the        1 . A provisional anti-dumping duty is hereby imposed
       export prices of the exporters concerned to the           on imports of welded tubes, of iron or non-alloy steel,
       extent that the injury will be eliminated in cases        threaded or threadable, zinc coated or not, of circular
       where it is lower than the dumping margins and in         cross-section, of an. external diameter of not more than
 ---pagebreak--- No L 351 /22                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                1 5. " 1 2. 90
168,3 mm, falling within CN codes 7306 30 51 ,                       — Cayirova Boru Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS (Taric addi­
7306 30 59, ex 7306 30 71 (Taric code : 7306 30 71*90), ex               tional code : 8510),
7306 30 79 (Taric code : 7306 30 79*90), originating in              — Yücel Boru Ihracat Ithalat Ve Pazarlama AS (Taric
Turkey and Venezuela.                                                    additional code : 8510),
2. The rate of the duty shall be 18,5 % for products             — produced by Conduven, Caracas, Venezuela and
originating in Turkey (Taric additional code : 8511 ) and            exported by Connectors, New York, USA (Taric addi­
22,1 % for products originating in Venezuela (Taric addi­            tional code : 8512).
tional code : 8513). The duty shall be calculated on the
                                                                 2. The undertakings offered by the companies cited in
net price, free-at-Community-frontier, customs uncleared.
                                                                 paragraph 1 are hereby accepted.
3. The provisions in force concerning customs duties             3. The investigation against the companies cited in
shall apply.                                                     paragraph 1 is hereby terminated.
4.    The release for free circulation in the Community of
                                                                                           Article 3
the products Referred to in paragraph 1 shall be subject to
the provision of a security, equivalent to the amount of         Without prejudice to Article 7 (4) (b) and (c) of Regulation
the provisional duty.                                            (EEC) No 2423/88, the parties concerned may make
                                                                 known their views in writing and apply to be heard by the
                          Article 2                              Commission within one month of the entry into force of
                                                                 this Regulation.
1 . Notwithstanding Article 1 , the duties shall not apply
for the products concerned                                                                 Article 4
— exported directly to the Community by                          This Regulation shall enter into force on the day follo­
    — Borusan Birlesik Boru Fabrikalari AS (Taric addi­          wing that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
        tional code : 8510),                                     European Communities.
    — Borusan Ihracat Ithalat Ve Dagitim AS. (Taric              Subject to Articles 11 , 12 and 13 of Regulation (EEC) No
        additional code :, 8510),                                2423/88, Article 1 shall apply for a period of four months,
    — Yücel Boru Ve Profil Endüstrisi A.S. (Taric addi­          unless the Council adopts definitive measures before the
        tional code : 8510),                                     expiry of that period.
                 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                 States.
                 Done at Brussels, 11 December 1990 .
                                                                           For the Commission
                                                                            Frans ANDRIESSEN
                                                                               Vice-President