USITC says Russian palladium does not harm America cos, ends probe

Russian unwrought palladium, a metal used to reduce emissions in gasoline vehicles, does not injure American companies, the U.S. International Trade Commission said on Friday, ending Washington’s anti-dumping investigation.

The United States had been probing whether “dumped” or subsidized palladium from Russia harmed the U.S. industry, with the U.S. Department of Commerce last week separately deciding on a countervailing duty of 109.1%.

Sibanye-Stillwater SSWJ.J, which has production in South Africa and the United States, and the United Steelworkers union had asked Washington to weigh imposing duties to protect long-term sustainability of the U.S. supply. But the USITC’s negative determination ends the investigation.

The “U.S. industry is not materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports of unwrought palladium from Russia that … Commerce has determined are sold in the United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the government of Russia,” the USITC said in a statement following its vote, adding that its full report will be released July 8.

Russian palladium imports in the U.S. rose to 27.6 tons in 2024, from 23.8 tons in 2023 and 20.4 tons in 2022, and palladium has so far avoided U.S. sanctions.

Russia’s Nornickel, the world’s largest palladium producer with about a 40% market share, declined to comment on the USITC decision.

Spot palladium prices XPD= have fallen about 17% since the start of the year to around $1,355 per ounce as of Friday.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Anastasia Lyrchikova in Moscow; additional reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Ismail Shakil and Chizu Nomiyama )