NEW YORK (Metal-Pages) 13-Sept-11. The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has lifted the anti-dumping duty on magnesium exported by Russian producer VSMPO-Avisma Corp. to 2.24% for the period April 1 2009 to March 31 2010.

The final determination compares with a previous dumping margin set at 0% and applies retroactively and not for future shipments.

The ruling comes as the DoC said it revised Avisma’s reported costs of production for the period under review to reflect the treatment of chlorine gas, which is a byproduct of raw magnesium production.

It then calculated the company’s costs as the weighted average for the review period and the costs for the period January 1 through March 31 2010, which it calculated for the preliminary results.

“Our comparison of Avisma’s revised costs to its reported sales establishes that all of Avisma’s sales in the comparison market were made at prices below cost,” the DoC said.

The DoC also confirmed its preliminary determination that rival Russian producer Solikamsk Magnesium Works did not make shipments of magnesium to the US during the review period.

It comes as the US International Trade Commission (ITC) is expected to hold anti-dumping duties on pure magnesium from China following the start of an expedited five-year sunset review.

The ITC decided that it would not hold a hearing or conduct a further investigative due to an inadequate response by Chinese producers and exporters.

Instead, the ITC said it would rely on facts available, including the ITC's prior injury and review determinations, the domestic industry's responses to the ITC's institution notice, and data already collected by the ITC's staff.

“We expect that this expedited review will take four months or less to complete, and the decision to conduct an expedited review virtually guarantees that the ITC will make an affirmative determination, which means that the antidumping order will remain in effect,” it said.