Moscow has complained that the US decision to revoke the “suspension agreement” with Russia – which had prevented the US from imposing antidumping duties on imports of Russian hot rolled coil (HRC) – contravenes World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

The US decision, taken by its Department of Commerce (DoC) came into force on 19 December, meaning that from now on, Russian HRC imports to the US are subject to duties. It scraps a deal that had supported Russian exporters for 15 years (see Kallanish 20 Oct).

As a result, Russia’s Severstal is subject to a 73.59% duty, while others, including Novolipetsk (NLMK) and Magnitogorsk (MMK) face 184.56%, Kallanish hears.

In a letter to the DoC, Russia's trade representative to the US, Alexander Stadnik wrote that the level of duty was originally calculated based on methodologies used for countries with non-market economies. The DoC ruled in 2002 that Russia had moved away from being a non-market economy, and the country joined the WTO in 2012.

Since the original investigation Russia has carried out further market reforms that have made its marketplace more transparent and predictable, thus making it easier for foreign firms to compete in Russia, as well as expanding competition, said Stadnik in his letter of 12 December: "In this case, imposing a non-market economy rate is inconsistent with WTO rules."

Severstal, NLMK, and MMK have also told the DoC that the duties are punitive because they were calculated when the economic situation and dumping methodology were different, using outdated prices. However, US steel producer Nucor argues that it is normal procedure to apply the duty rates calculated in the original investigation.

In its latest statistics, the American Iron & Steel Institute estimates Russian landings of finished steel in October fell by 33.3% compared with September, but that the year-to-date import figure of 1.2 million net tons is 518% higher than in January-October 2013.