Golden Dragon Group to build copper tube factory in US
Shanghai. July 19. INTERFAX-CHINA- Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group (Golden Dragon), China's largest copper tube manufacturer, aims to build an RMB 647 million ($100 million) factory in the United States in a bid to avoid anti-dumping measures, state media reported July 18.
According to the Shanghai Securities News, U.S. regulators have approved Golden Dragon's plan to build a plant in the state of Alabama. Construction will begin once the plan is approved by Chinese authorities.
The U.S. production base will allow the firm to avoid stiff anti-dumping duties. The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of China-made seamless refined copper pipe and tube in October 2009, Interfax previously reported. Golden Dragon products are subject to an 11.25 percent anti-dumping duty as a result of the investigation, according to the Chinese magazine Caijing.
Another Chinese firm, Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corporation (TPCO) established a seamless steel pipe factory in U.S. this year in order to sidestep anti-dumping measures, Chen Ziqi, a business unit director at China International Engineering Consulting Corporation said July 3 at the 3rd Steel Industry High Level Conference in Beijing.
The DOC levied an anti-dumping duty of 99.14 percent on TPCO's seamless steel pipe product in April 2010, according to state-owned China Business News.
Xinxiang City, Henan Province based Golden Dragon produced 400,000 tons of copper in 2010. It generated sales revenue of RMB 23.55 billion ($3.64 billion), with a net profit of RMB 213 million ($32.9 million). The firm's Mexican production base has been in operation since October 2010.
Precise copper tubing is widely used in the production of air conditioners.
-KHM/PY
