NLMK asks to exclude slabs from the list of steel tariffs under section 232

NLMK Group owns and operates three steel mills in Indiana and Pennsylvania. Since the acquisition of these plants, NLMK has invested over $ 800 million in these facilities, restoring much-needed jobs in these communities. These plants employ 1,200 workers at NLMK, with a further 8,400 employed indirectly. NLMK's reliable supply is especially important to more than 90 manufacturing customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia.

NLMK Indiana and NLMK Pennsylvania, companies of the US subsidiary of the NLMK Group, have filed a complaint with the US Court of International Trade alleging that NLMK's requests to exclude slabs from Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act were wrongfully denied.

NLMK USA's operations in the United States depend on reliable imports of steel slabs, as the local steel-to-finished product capacity is vastly larger than the slab capacity. To fulfill the vast majority of its customers' orders, NLMK USA requires a slab thickness of 250–255 mm (nominally "10"), which it was unable to obtain domestically as none of the objectors is capable of casting slabs of this thickness. For thinner slabs, which only account for about 10% of NLMK USA's total needs, NLMK USA has never been able to procure more than 20% of its requirements domestically in any given month.

Given the unavailability of steel slabs in the domestic market, in 2018 NLMK USA applied for an exemption from section 232 of the steel tariff for steel slabs from Russia. Three US steelmakers - AK Steel, Nucor and US Steel - have filed objections to the exemption, even though they cannot supply the required volumes and types of slabs.

In refusing NLMK's US exemption requests and supporting objections, the Commerce Department made no effort to verify the objectors' claims, ignored evidence that these companies were unable and /or unwilling to produce the relevant products in the required quality or quantity, and could not even offer any reasonable basis for their decisions.

NLMK USA's total board production on the domestic market was only about 3% of its total demand. The company had to import the remainder to support operations and fulfill customer orders. NLMK USA paid almost $ 170 million in tariffs from which it was to be exempted. The company asks the court to declare illegal the refusal of the US Department of Commerce to satisfy the requests of NLMK USA to exclude slabs from section 232 and recognize the right of NLMK USA to return previously paid tariffs under section 232.