(AMM) Noranda, Alcan warn US against lifting aluminum wire duty

The development of a renewable energy grid across the United States could be a boon for the struggling aluminum cable industry, but if one Indian wire manufacturer has its way it might be foreign suppliers, not domestic ones, who reap the benefits, two major fabricators of the light metal warn.

In testimony before the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Subcommittee of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), executives from Noranda Aluminum Inc. and Alcan Cable urged agency officials not to grant Mumbai-based Apar Industries Ltd.'s petition seeking duty-free treatment on imports of aluminum conductor steel reinforced (ACSR) wire, claiming that such a decision could be vastly detrimental to the already struggling domestic cable and rod sectors.

Earlier this year, Apar petitioned the U.S. government to add ACSR wire to the GSP list of accepted duty-free products, a program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world (AMM, Nov....