International Steel Mills
October 21, 2014
US DOC Terminates Russian Hot Rolled Suspension Agreement
Written by John Packard
On Friday, October 16, 2014, the U.S. Department of Commerce terminated the Russian Hot Rolled Suspension Agreement. The agreement, which goes back to 1990 with numerous revisions over the years, covers all carbon flat rolled shipments out of Russia on the following ASTM numbers: A36 (plate), A568, A569, A572, A607 and A715. A few of these ASTM’s are outdated and have been replaced with A1011 and A1018. Essentially, the ASTM’s cover hot rolled coil and plate in commercial quality, structural and high strength low alloy grades. Slabs are not affected by this ruling.
The agreement expires on December 16, 2014 after which the Russian importers will be responsible to pay duties of 73.59 percent for Severstal and 184.56 percent for all other Russian producers. These duties should effectively remove the Russians from the hot rolled coil and plate markets.
