Import Administration
Stainless Steel Wire Rod from Taiwan (A-583-828)

Scope Description:

For purposes of this investigation, SSWR comprises products that are hot-rolled or hot-rolled annealed and/or pickled and/or descaled rounds, squares, octagons, hexagons or other shapes, in coils, that may also be coated with a lubricant containing copper, lime or oxalate.

SSWR is made of alloy steels containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other elements. These products are manufactured only by hot-rolling or hot-rolling, annealing, and/or pickling and/or descaling, are normally sold in coiled form, and are of solid cross-section. The majority of SSWR sold in the United States is round in cross-sectional shape, annealed and pickled, and later cold-finished into stainless steel wire or small-diameter bar.

The most common size for such products is 5.5 millimeters or 0.217 inches in diameter, which represents the smallest size that normally is produced on a rolling mill and is the size that most wire-drawing machines are set up to draw. The range of SSWR sizes normally sold in the United States is between 0.20 inches and 1.312 inches diameter. Two stainless steel grades, SF20T and K-M35FL, are excluded from the scope of the investigation. The chemical makeup for the excluded grades is as follows:

SF20T
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Carbon.................................... 0.05 max.
Manganese................................. 2.00 max.
Phosphorous............................... 0.05 max.
Sulfur.................................... 0.15 max.
Silicon................................... 1.00 max.
Chromium.................................. 19.00/21.00.
Molybdenum................................ 1.50/2.50.
Lead...................................... Added (0.10/0.30).
Tellurium................................. Added (0.03 min.)
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K-M35FL
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Carbon.................................... 0.015 max.
Nickel.................................... 0.30 max.
Silicon................................... 0.70/1.00.
Manganese................................. 0.40 max.
Phosphorous............................... 0.04 max.
Sulfur.................................... 0.03 max.
Chromium.................................. 12.50/14.00.
Lead...................................... 0.10/0.30.
Aluminum.................................. 0.20/0.35.
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The products under investigation are currently classifiable under subheadings 7221.00.0005, 7221.00.0015, 7221.00.0030, 7221.00.0045, and 7221.00.0075 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Scope Rulings Completed Between January 1, 2005, and March 31, 2005:
Requestor: Ishar Bright Steel Ltd.; certain stainless steel bar that is manufactured in the United Arab Emirates from stainless steel wire rod imported from multiple subject countries is excluded from the scope of the antidumping and/or countervailing duty orders from India, Italy, Japan, Spain and Taiwan; February 7, 2005.