Cast Iron Soil Pipe from China Investigation Nos. 701-TA-597 and 731-TA-1407 (Final) Publication 4879 April 2019 U.S. International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 U.S. International Trade Commission COMMISSIONERS David S. Johanson, Chairman Irving A. Williamson Meredith M. Broadbent Rhonda K. Schmidtlein Jason E. Kearns Catherine DeFilippo Director of Operations Staff assigned Junie Joseph, Investigator Mark Brininstool, Industry Analyst Allison Thompson, Industry Analyst Andrew Knipe, Economist Charles Yost, Accountant Samuel Varela-Molina, Accountant Carolyn Holmes, Statistician Henry Smith, Attorney Craig Thomsen, Supervisory Investigator Address all communications to Secretary to the Commission United States International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 U.S. International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 www.usitc.gov Cast Iron Soil Pipe from China Investigation Nos. 701-TA-597 and 731-TA-1407 (Final) Publication 4879 April 2019 CONTENTS Page Determination ....................................................................................................................... 1 Views of the Commission ....................................................................................................... 3 Part I: Introduction .............................................................................................................. I-1 Background ................................................................................................................................ I-1 Statutory criteria and organization of the report ...................................................................... I-2 Statutory criteria .................................................................................................................. I-2 Organization of report ......................................................................................................... I-3 Market summary ........................................................................................................................ I-3 Summary data and data sources ............................................................................................... I-4 Previous and related investigations ........................................................................................... I-4 Nature and extent of subsidies and sales at LTFV ..................................................................... I-5 Subsidies .............................................................................................................................. I-5 Sales at LTFV ........................................................................................................................ I-7 The subject merchandise ........................................................................................................... I-9 Commerce’s scope ............................................................................................................... I-9 Tariff treatment ................................................................................................................... I-9 Sections 232 and 301 tariff treatment............................................................................... I-10 The product .............................................................................................................................. I-10 Description and applications ............................................................................................. I-10 Manufacturing processes ................................................................................................... I-13 Domestic like product issues ................................................................................................... I-14 Part II: Conditions of competition in the U.S. market........................................................... II-1 U.S. market characteristics ....................................................................................................... II-1 U.S. purchasers ......................................................................................................................... II-1 Channels of distribution ............................................................................................................ II-2 Geographic distribution ............................................................................................................ II-2 Supply and demand considerations .......................................................................................... II-3 i CONTENTS Page U.S. supply ........................................................................................................................... II-3 U.S. demand ........................................................................................................................ II-5 Substitutability issues ............................................................................................................. II-10 Lead times ......................................................................................................................... II-10 Knowledge of country sources ......................................................................................... II-11 Factors affecting purchasing decisions ............................................................................. II-11 Comparisons of domestic products, subject imports, and nonsubject imports .............. II-23 Comparison of U.S.-produced and imported cast iron soil pipe ...................................... II-25 Elasticity estimates ................................................................................................................. II-27 U.S. supply elasticity ......................................................................................................... II-27 U.S. demand elasticity ...................................................................................................... II-28 Substitution elasticity ....................................................................................................... II-28 Part III: U.S. producers’ production, shipments, and employment ...................................... III-1 U.S. producers .......................................................................................................................... III-1 U.S. production, capacity, and capacity utilization .................................................................. III-2 Alternative products ......................................................................................................... III-2 U.S. producers’ U.S. shipments and exports ........................................................................... III-3 U.S. producers’ inventories ...................................................................................................... III-4 U.S. producers’ imports and purchases ................................................................................... III-4 U.S. employment, wages, and productivity ............................................................................. III-4 Part IV: U.S. imports, apparent U.S. consumption, and market shares ............................... IV-1 U.S. importers .......................................................................................................................... IV-1 U.S. imports .............................................................................................................................. IV-2 Negligibility .............................................................................................................................. IV-4 Apparent U.S. consumption ..................................................................................................... IV-5 Market shares .......................................................................................................................... IV-6 Market segments by product types .................................................................................. IV-7 ii CONTENTS Page Part V: Pricing data ............................................................................................................. V-1 Factors affecting prices ............................................................................................................. V-1 Raw material costs .............................................................................................................. V-1 Energy and other factory costs ........................................................................................... V-2 Transportation costs to the U.S. market ............................................................................ V-4 U.S. inland transportation costs ......................................................................................... V-4 Pricing practices ........................................................................................................................ V-5 Pricing methods .................................................................................................................. V-5 Price leadership ................................................................................................................. V-10 Price data ................................................................................................................................ V-10 Price trends ......................................................................................................................