Chinese steel pipe makers face duties of up to 450 percent after a United States trade panel ruled some drill-pipe imports from China threaten American firms.

The US International Trade Commission yesterday cleared the way for the US Commerce Department to impose both antidumping and countervailing measures on drill pipes and drill collars, used in the oil industry, from China.
Last month, the US Commerce Department approved final antidumping duty rates of between 69 percent to 429.95 percent on a number of Chinese steel pipe makers. Shanghai-based Baoshan Iron and Steel Co and another Chinese firm escaped being hit by the duties.

The department also set an 18.18 percent countervailing duty, used to offset alleged Chinese government subsidies, for all Chinese drill pipe makers and exporters.

The duties, the latest to be levied against Chinese goods over the past couple of years, were sought by firms including Houston-based VAM Drilling USA Inc in 2009. The US imported US$119 million worth of drill pipe from China in 2009, down from US$194 million in 2008.

China's Ministry of Commerce has yet to comment, but in earlier cases accused the US of protectionism.

American oil service companies that import drill pipes are also irked by the trade panel's vote as the tariffs will raise the cost of US oil production.
"As a direct result of the vote, drilling companies will have to spend millions of dollars more on drill pipe and less on hiring workers to do the drilling," Reuters quoted David Lesco, general manager of Texas-based Downhole Pipe & Equipment, as saying.