NORTH AMERICAN NEWS
by John Wolz, editor
GlobalFastenerNews.com
U.S. Court sends Nucor anti-dumping case back to Trade Commission
The U.S. Court of International Trade sent the Nucor Fastener anti-dumping case back to the International Trade Commission. The 20th
T
he International Trade Commission is due to respond by 7th
December 2011. If the ITC again rules against
Nucor, the Indiana-based fastener manufacturer can continue to appeal even to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 31-page ruling, CIT Judge Evan J. Wallach remanded
the case for a redetermination on two “holdings”: first, that the ITC improperly treated its import data as “comprehensive”; and that the ITC failed to identify a “rational basis for unqualified reliance on (unnamed domestic producer’s) questionnaire response”. In processing the remand, the ITC has decided to keep the
record closed, meaning no new evidence will be admitted. Attorneys will be permitted to submit comments on the judge’s opinion.
September 2011, CIT opinion remanded the ITC’s 2010 unanimous decision to dismiss Nucor’s petition seeking tariffs on fasteners from China and Taiwan.
If the ITC’s determination on the remand remains negative - that is, if the commission determines imports have caused no injury to the domestic fastener industry - the outcome “strengthens the likelihood” that the case will ultimately conclude in the importers’ favour, Matthew McGrath - attorney for importers - told
GlobalFastenerNews.com. If that occurs, Nucor Fastener could continue to pursue appeals, first at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and ultimately at the U.S. Supreme Court. “It may be Nucor’s strategy to keep the case alive to keep some sort of uncertainty in the marketplace,” McGrath speculated. In its petitions, filed in September 2009, Nucor Fastener
alleged average dumping margins of 145% for Chinese imports, and 74% for imports from Taiwan.
New Heads & Threads re-enters market
Following a brief period of re-organization, Heads & Threads International has re-entered the industrial fastener market, announced executive vice president Gordon Anderson.
services, according to Bill Marthens. Some sales staff from the old HTI will be returning as well. “It is different ownership – a different investor group,” Marthens explained. “We acquired certain assets, but this is a new entity.
B
From a customer perspective, nothing has changed. The part numbers are the same and the telephone numbers are the same.” HTI went into receivership early this year with US$16 million (11.8 million euros) in debt. In May, Porteous Fastener Company
acquired HTI’s inventory, warehouse racks and other equipment at auction for just under US$12 million (8.8 million euros). Porteous Fastener closed HTI’s five branches and consolidated the inventory into its own facilities. Porteous Fastener did not purchase the branding rights and intellectual properties of HTI, and is not involved in the re-emerging HTI business.
U.S. to experience “manufacturing renaissance”
The founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative will speak to the New England Fastener Distributors Association on bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.
H
arry Moser, a 40-year manufacturing industry veteran and retired president of GF AgieCharmilles, said: “It is now up to the customers to re-evaluate their sourcing decisions and the suppliers to aggressively promote savings from reshoring.” Moser founded the Reshoring Initiative to move jobs back to the U.S. The Boston Consulting Group predicts the U.S. will experience in the next five years a “manufacturing renaissance as the wage gap with China shrinks.”
24 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 72 November 2011
ill Marthens is now president of HTI, and Anderson - a 35-year fastener industry veteran - is executive vice president. The new HTI is headquartered in Dallas, TX, and is starting with inventories in Dayton, OH, and Dallas, Anderson said. HTI unveiled its new business and executive team at the National Industrial Fastener & Mill Supply Expo in Las Vegas. The company is adding packaged fasteners, kitting services, blister packs, private labelling and custom packaging
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