US industry files aluminum foil duty petition against five countries

The Aluminum Association's Trade Enforcement Working Group and its individual member companies filed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions to the US Department of Commerce Sept. 29 seeking investigations of aluminum foil imports from five countries.

The petition aims to impose antidumping duties on certain aluminum foil products from Armenia, Brazil, Oman, Russia and Turkey, along with countervailing duties on the same products from Oman and Turkey, according to documents filed in the Commerce ACCESS database.

According to the petition, US aluminum foil producers have been injured by increasing volumes of imports from the five nations since 2017.

"Imports from Armenia, Brazil, Oman, Russia, and Turkey increased significantly from 100.2 million lb in 2017 to 210.3 million lb in 2019, representing an increase of 110% in absolute terms from 2017 to 2019," the petition said, adding that the rise in volume accounted for more than the total increase in US aluminum foil imports and grew faster than total US demand.

The petition alleges shipments from the five countries are being dumped at margins of up to 107.61% in the US and imports from Oman and Turkey are supported by eight and 25 government subsidy programs, respectively.

Aluminum Association CEO Tom Dobbin said domestic producers are unable to operate effectively due to unfairly traded imports.

"The US aluminum industry relies on strong international supply chains, and we took this step only after significant deliberation and examination of the facts and data on the ground," Dobbins said in a statement.

The aluminum foil covered by the investigation includes products with a thickness of 0.2 mm or less, in reels exceeding 25 lb, regardless of width.

In addition to the Aluminum Association's Trade Enforcement Working Group, the petition was also filed on behalf of group member companies Gränges Americas, JW Aluminum and Novelis.

The petition was submitted concurrently to the US International Trade Commission.

Petition follows 2018 China ruling

The Aluminum Association said the Sept. 29 petition seeks to address imports of foil from the subject countries that have surged since Commerce previously published antidumping and countervailing duty orders on similar foil products from China in 2018.

In response to the duties imposed in 2018, Chinese producers have shifted aluminum foil exports to other markets, which resulted in producers in those countries exporting their own production to the US, the association added.

"We continue to see how persistent aluminum overcapacity driven by structural subsidies in China harms the entire sector," Dobbins said. "While domestic aluminum foil producers were able to invest and expand following the initial targeted trade enforcement action against imports from China in 2018, those gains were short lived."

Dobbins said the decrease in US aluminum foil imports from China has essentially been replaced by unfairly traded imports from other countries that are injuring the domestic industry.