Posted on 07 Apr 2015
Increased sales of imported steel pipes used in several industrial sectors (such as oil and gas) at below fair market price have been cited by Tenaris as one reason for the layoffs at Tenaris Algoma Tubes.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) confirmed April 2 there have been increased sales in unfairly priced imports (known as 'dumping') from several countries.
The ruling from CITT follows an earlier determination on dumping from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) March 2.
Dumped pipes will now be subject to tariffs, over the next five years, which bring them up to market price.
"This positive determination is based on a thorough review of the facts by the CITT and the result should restore market based competition in the Canadian Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTB) market," said Tenaris Canadian Institutional Relations Director David McHattie in a news release.
"These decisions are critical to the continued development of domestic manufacturing for oil and gas," Tenaris management stated in the release.
The ruling from CITT April 2 wrote "the domestic industry was under threat of injury as a result of the dumping."
Steel pipes produced by the Sault's Tenaris Algoma Tubes are sold to Canadian and U.S. customers.
As a result of increased dumping (and a decline in oil drilling activity in North America), Tenaris Algoma Tubes has laid off 510 employees in three waves between December and March.
A small group of hourly employees remain on the job as laid off workers hope to return to work.
Tenaris and Evraz North America, another steel manufacturer, jointly filed a complaint about dumping in June 2014.
The complaints regarding dumping involve pipes from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Neither Tenaris Canadian Institutional Relations Director David McHattie, or Dave Richie, President of United Steelworkers Local 9548 (which represents Tenaris Algoma Tubes hourly employees) were available for comment Monday.
