Timet objects to breaks on tariffs on Russian titanium

Friday, July 2, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

Titanium Metals Corp. said today that the federal government has postponed the company's petition to halt concessions on titanium products imported from Russia to the United States.

The Denver-based company, known as Timet, operates a plant in Henderson with about 450 employees and said the break on tariffs on Russian-imported titanium products is hurting Timet and the other U.S. titanium producers.

The U.S. government has been suspending tariffs on Russian titanium products under the Generalized System of Preferences, which helps small producers in developing countries import into the United States. The program protects domestic companies by instating tariffs once foreign companies reach a certain size. Timet, along with RTI International Metals, Inc., filed petitions, alleging that the Russian importers have grown large enough that tariff concessions should be eliminated.

The federal government postponed any action on the petition for the second year, Timet said in a statement.

Timet said the domestic titanium industry was severely hurt by the decline in the commercial aerospace market after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Russian imports have "hurt our weakened U.S. industry further."