OTTAWA - Imports of steel grating from China will be hit with anti-dumping and countervailing duties as a result a ruling announced Tuesday by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.

The ruling, which affirmed a complaint in a case filed by Fisher & Ludlow Ltd. of Burlington, Ont., found that the dumping and subsidizing of non-stainless steel grating from China had caused injury.

"Anti-dumping and countervailing duties will therefore be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency on these goods," the tribunal said in a new release.

The release did not state the amount of the countervailing duties, which are determined by the border services agency.

The tribunal, an independent quasi-judicial body that hears cases involving allegations of dumped and subsidized imports among other things, said it would issue the reasons for its findings on May 4.

Dumping occurs when a product is sold below fair-market value in the target country.

The U.S. Commerce Department slapped final duties of about 200 per cent on imports into the United States of steel gratings from China last year. One of the companies that complained in that case was Fisher & Ludlow's U.S. operations, based in Wexford, Pa.

Steel gratings are two or more cross-bracing pieces of metal and are used in fire escapes, industrial floors, docks, ramps, drainage covers, staircases, bridges and elevators.

04/19/2011 1:16 PM

Source: The Canadian Press