November 27, 2014 (Source: http://www.todayszaman.com)
Turkey's textile industry is pressing the country's government to drop a dumping investigation that could result in penalties on US cotton imports, as the country's spinning mills battle flagging demand amid geopolitical unrest in major markets. News of the probe into US fiber imports a month ago has brought buying by Turkish mills almost to a standstill, escalating fears in the United States, the world's top exporter, about demand from one of its top foreign buyers.
If uncertainty over Ankara's plans drags on, mills will go to Brazil, Greece, and Australia for their cotton, said the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city of Kahramanmaraş, one of Turkey's biggest spinning hubs.
"We have been in communication with (the Department of Economy) to say we that we don't want this, we didn't demand this, we don't need this," Kemal Karaküçük said in an interview on Wednesday. Turkey is a net importer of cotton, growing less than half of its demand of 6.5 million 480-lb bales. Kahramanmaraş accounts for about a third of that total. Turkey's mills hope the US government will also help pressure Ankara for a resolution of the antidumping investigation.
Turkey has delayed a key investigation deadline. Though Turkey has a track record of moving quickly, some cases can be extended to 18 months. The probe comes at a tough time for the global cotton industry, as prices sink below the cost of production because of slowing demand in China, the world's largest textile market.
In Turkey, mills are plagued by unrest in important markets, including Ukraine and Syria, where demand has dried up. "The instability of our region is affecting the whole business, not just textiles. Syria was a great market. It was a door for us to the whole (Arabian) peninsula," said Ertuğrul Tanrıverdi of Ensar Tekstil, one of the city's millers.
It is a big blow for the United States too as buying by Turkey's mills has slowed since the launch of the probe and 10,900 bales of upland cotton had been canceled through the week of Nov. 13, government data showed. That is tiny compared with the millions of bales Turkey buys annually, but shows the dispute's immediate impact. Turkey has been the biggest buyer of US cotton so far during the 2014-15 season that began on Aug. 1.
US to continue probe of pipe imports from Turkey: US trade officials voted on Wednesday to continue investigations into imports of line pipe from South Korea and Turkey, which could end in tariffs on the products.
The US International Trade Commission found a reasonable indication that US producers of the pipe, used for oil or gas pipelines, were materially injured by the imports, giving the green light for the case to continue. Companies including Northwest Pipe Company, JMC Steel Group division Energex and Maverick Tube Corporation complained that imports from the two countries rose 38.9 percent from 2011 to 2012 a nd forced local producers to cut prices.
The investigation could have an impact on products produced by South Korea's Dongbu Steel, Husteel Co , Korea Cast Iron Pipe Industry Co Ltd and SamKang M&T Co, as well as Turkey's Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret AS and ERBOSAN Erciyas Tube Industry and Trade Co.
The Department of Commerce is due to make its preliminary ruling on whether the goods are unfairly subsidized by Jan. 9 and whether they are sold below cost in the United States by March 25. (Source: http://www.todayszaman.com)