Brazil SECEX Circular nº 51/2026 — Initiation of Anti-Dumping Investigation on Welded Carbon-Steel Pipes from China

Mechanism

Circular SECEX nº 51, dated 3 July 2026, formally opens an antidumping investigation under Lei 9.019/1995 and its implementing regulations into imports of welded circular-section carbon-steel pipes for fluid conduction (NCM 7305.11.00, 7305.12.00, 7305.19.00, 7305.31.00, 7305.39.00, 7306.19.00, 7306.30.00; outer diameter ≥ 14"/355.6 mm and ≤ 48"/1,219.2 mm; yield strength below 60 ksi; excludes sanitation-standard pipes and triple-layer polyethylene-coated tubes) from the People's Republic of China.

Petitioner: Confab Industrial S.A., the Brazilian subsidiary of Tenaris S.A. (NYSE: TS), the global large-diameter welded and seamless pipe manufacturer.

Dumping-evidence period: July 2024 - June 2025. Injury-analysis period: July 2020 - June 2025.

Non-market-economy finding: DECOM states outright, at initiation, that "market economy conditions do not prevail" in China's producing segment for this product, pointing to government intervention, state-owned-enterprise dominance, five-year industrial plans, and "China's decisive contribution to global steel overcapacity" — the same overcapacity framing used in Brazil's earlier graphite-electrode and stainless-steel AD proceedings against China.

No indicative dumping margin is disclosed in the initiation circular; DECOM establishes investigation parameters and questionnaire deadlines only. A preliminary determination (with margins, and a decision on provisional duties) typically follows 120-180 days after initiation under Lei 9.019/1995 procedure, with a final determination 12-18 months out.

Downstream implications

• Tenaris/Confab (petitioner) is Brazil's dominant large-diameter welded-pipe producer

for oil-and-gas and industrial fluid-conduction applications; a successful case removes Chinese-origin price competition in the 14"-48" OD band.

• Third pan-sector Brazil-China AD case in 2026 alongside the graphite-electrode

(2026-03-12) and stainless-steel (2026-04-29) circulars — all three invoke the same China-steel-overcapacity non-market-economy finding, part of a broader pattern of Brazilian trade-defence authorities treating Chinese industrial overcapacity as a standing rebuttable presumption rather than re-litigating it case by case.

• Chinese welded-pipe exporters face a third simultaneous Brazilian AD front on

steel-adjacent products in 2026, alongside parallel EU and US steel trade-defence actions.

Open questions

• Will DECOM's preliminary determination (expected ~Q4 2026) disclose a dumping margin and

impose provisional duties, as in the graphite-electrode case, or defer duties as in the stainless-steel case?

• Which Chinese exporters/mills will register as interested parties?
• Final-determination date and duty level, expected 12-18 months from the 3 July 2026

initiation.