The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in Washington, D.C. recently determined that industries in the U.S. “are not materially retarded” by the importation of 53-foot dry cargo containers from China.

The determination was made despite the fact that the U.S. Department of Commerce found production of the containers, which are for domestic intermodal use only, is subsidized, and that they’re sold in the U.S. “at less than fair value.”

As a result of the USITC’s negative determinations, “no antidumping or countervailing duty orders will be issued on imports of these products from China.”

Evansville, Wisconsin-based Stoughton Trailers, one of two companies in the U.S. that manufacture 53-foot, corrugated steel ‘cans’, had requested anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations in April 2014.

The company had charged in its petition with the USITC that during the past several years the market share for domestic containers garnered by Chinese manufacturers had increased to more than 95 percent.

At the time, Stoughton Trailers President Robert P. Wahlin, said that China “has ‘dumped’ domestic container products into the U.S. market at prices that are well below fair value.”

Furthermore, “Chinese manufacturers receive an array of government subsidies, not to mention that country’s manipulation of currency exchange rates,” he said.

“All of these factors equate to an enormous unfair advantage for Chinese manufacturers of these products. This unfair advantage has injured Stoughton Trailers, LLC specifically, and has precluded the competitive establishment of a 53-foot cargo container manufacturing industry in the U.S. generally,” he added.

Late last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued a pair of decisions levying a temporary tariff on the Chinese-made containers with cash deposits ranging from 35 percent to 160 percent, depending on the manufacturer placed in escrow.

As a result of the USITC decision, which overturns the DOC judgment, all of temporary duties collected on the importation of the containers in question will be refunded and, according to industry analysts, give China-based manufacturers a 95 percent share of the U.S. market for 53-foot domestic intermodal containers.