GOES MMI: First Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel Exemption Requests Filed

The MetalMiner GOES Monthly Metals Index (MMI) dropped nine points this month to 179. This price drop runs counter to the wider steel market in which prices continued to increase throughout April.
The U.S. grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) coil price fell again this month, dropping 4.7%.
Not surprisingly, import levels dropped abruptly, going from over 3,000 tons in March to not even 1,000 tons in April.
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The Section 232 tariffs and 301 investigations have spooked importers.

Source: MetalMiner analysis of ITC trade data

Last month, MetalMiner reported that no buying organization had yet to apply for an exemption to the Section 232 tariffs. That changed this month as Nachi American Incorporated filed five exclusion requests citing lack of U.S. availability.
The exclusions covered:

  • 37mm X 600mm X 1830mm Hot Rolled M2 High Speed Steel Sheet
  • 14mm X 600mm X 1800mm Hot Rolled M2 High Speed Steel Sheet
  • 22mm X 350mm X 1500mm Hot Rolled M2 High Speed Steel Sheet (Cut Length)
  • 30mm x 406.40 x 2250mm M42 High Speed Steel Flat Bar
  • 69mm X 508mm X 1500mm Hot Rolled M2 High Speed Steel Sheet

The M42 falls under the tool steel category. Nachi American Incorporated imports these five grades from its parent company, Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. of Japan. All five of the exclusion requests appear to cover products made in the U.S. However, the only U.S. producer of the M2 grades can only produce widths up to 920mm., according to published data.
What About the Section 301 Investigation?
The 301 investigation includes a number of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) products including those with HTS Codes: 72261110, 72261190, 72261910 and 72261990, basically “alloy silicon electrical steel (grain-oriented) of various widths.”
However, the 301 investigation does not include either transformer parts (8504.90.9546) or wound cores (8504.90.9542) both of which could come into the U.S. under current the prevailing market treatment.
No additional information has been released with regard to this investigation since our last monthly GOES article.
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The GOES MMI® collects and weights 1 global grain-oriented electrical steel price point to provide a unique view into price trends over a 30-day period. For more information on the GOES MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.

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