(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) The United States has decided not to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duty (CVD) on steel-pipe imports from Oman.On Wednesday, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) made a final determination that imports of circular-welded carbon-quality steel pipes from Oman had caused no injury to US industry.In May this year, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) imposed a preliminary anti-dumping duty on imports of circular-welded carbon-quality steel pipes from Oman, India, UAE and Vietnam. In October, DoC decided to set final tariffs, which has now been voted down by USITC.In a notification posted on its website, USITC said, ''As US industry is not materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports of circular-welded carbon-quality steel pipes from India, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates that the Department of Commerce has determined are subsidised, and by imports from India, Oman, the UAE, and Vietnam that Department of Commerce has determined are sold in the US at less than fair value.''''However, as a result of USITC's negative determination, no anti-dumping or CVD orders will be issued,'' the Commission said.Al Jazeera Steel Products Co, which accounts for most of Oman's steel-pipe exports to the US, was named the mandatory respondent in the US investigation.Dr Bhaskar Dutta, CEO of Al Jazeera Steel, said that as there will be no anti-dumping or countervailing duty on exports to the US now the company will be able to carry out free trade as in the past.He said, ''We have been exporting to North America for over a decade. We had all the facts and figures, which gave us a feeling that there was no injury to the US industry from our exports and that is why USITC has also ruled in our favour.''''The duties that we have paid in the US for nearly six months will be refunded, hopefully in the coming year. The nominal anti-dumping and countervailing duties which were imposed on us were 5.81 per cent and 4.13 per cent respectively,'' Dr Dutta said.''The Oman government provided full support during the period of investigation and verification, as did the representative at WTO in Geneva, who fully helped and co-operated in this matter.''He added that the company's export volumes to the North American market totalled over 36,000 tonnes in 2011, and it expects to achieve similar volumes this year as well.
