[Ferro-Alloys.com]Allegheny Technologies has filed a Section 232 tariff exclusion request with the US Department of Commerce on behalf of its recently formed joint venture with China's Tsingshan Group, the US-based specialty steelmaker said Tuesday.

The joint venture relies on imports of semi-finished stainless slab products from Indonesia, which are currently subject to the 25% tariffs levied on all stainless products imported into the US as of March 23.

"This JV, which began commercial operations earlier this year, will directly create up to 100 high-paying manufacturing jobs in Western Pennsylvania and will support a significant number of workers and businesses along its US supply chain, including ATI's own Flat Rolled Products US-based business," ATI CEO Rich Harshman said in a statement.

"We are confident that our recently-filed tariff exclusion request clearly satisfies the Commerce Department's stated criteria. Specifically, there is no, nor has there ever been a, merchant market for stainless semi-finished products (slabs) in the US, and the financial benefits from the JV directly support ATI's important role in providing innovative materials and components for critical US defense applications."

ATI in early November said it had reached an agreement with Tsingshan for a 50:50 joint venture that would make and sell 60 inch-wide stainless sheet in North America. As part of the JV, ATI restarted operations at its mill in Midland, Pennsylvania, which had been idled since January 2016.

Since Tsingshan's operation in Indonesia is vertically integrated from mining raw materials, including ferronickel and ferrochrome, through refining and casting, the idea was it would supply the JV with slabs to reduce raw material cost volatility.

The tariff exclusion review will take up to 90 days to complete once the request is submitted based on published guidelines from the Commerce Department. The JV will continue operations during the review process, ATI said.

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• [Editor:Jiang Li Juan ]