May 31, 2007

JAPANESE STEEL INDUSTRY CRITICIZES U.S. DECISION TO MAINTAIN DUTIES ON
CUT-TO- LENGTH PLATE

NEW YORK– Japanese steelmakers welcomed the U.S. International Trade Commission’s decision today to eliminate anti-dumping duties on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Japan.

Hiroshi Adachi, Chairman of the Japan Steel Information Center here, said today that “the ITC vote acknowledges the fact that Japanese OCTG shipped to the United States will not harm U.S. steelmakers. These high-quality Japanese products are critical material for productive oil drilling in the United States at a time when rig counts have been very high.”

The antidumping duty order on OCTG from Japan has been in effect since 1995. The ITC decision to revoke the order was made in a “sunset review” that must occur every five years.

Mr. Adachi said “the Japanese industry and major oil companies argued to the ITC that Japanese OCTG are highly specialized and of significant importance to the U.S. energy industry. The US OCTG industry is making record profits and cannot supply all of the highly specialized OCTG required by major oil companies as they search for oil and gas in harsh environments.”

“Last year, US prices for OCTG rose significantly – more than double the level of two years earlier. This year, while rig counts remained high and, while an inventory overhang caused by hedge buying to avoid further U.S. price increases resulted in some price weakness, the US OCTG industry is in excellent condition notwithstanding competition with imports.” he added.

In recent years, the ITC votes on whether to revoke antidumping orders on Japanese Steel products in sunset reviews have been mixed but this latest decision is “a step in the right direction,” according to Mr. Adachi.

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