On September 30th, 2015, the Commission on Distortions of Chile decided to initiate a safeguard investigation on imports of certain steel wire (Decision No 378-01-0915, 30.09.2015). The products subject to investigation are classified under the following HS codes: 7213.2000, 7213.9110, 7213.9120, 7213.9190, 7227.1000, 7227.2000 and 7227.9000.
The request was lodged on September 4th, 2015 by Compañía Siderúrgica Huachipato S.A., the major domestic producer of the subject goods whose share in the national production is around 87-91%. The investigation started on October 5th, 2015.
According to the UN Comtrade Database, in 2014 the following countries exported goods classified under HS code subheadings 7213.20, 7213.91, 7227.10, 7227.20 and 7227.90 to Chile with a trade value over the GTA threshold of USD 1 million: China and Brazil.
On 22 April 2016, the Chilean authorities imposed a definitive safeguard duty on the above products. The rate of duty is 38.9% and is in force for a period of 6 months.