Feb 20 (Reuters) – The Canada Border Services Agency said on Monday it would investigate whether silicon metal from Brazil, Malaysia and five other countries was being sold at unfairly low prices in Canada after a Quebec-based company filed a complaint.
The agency said it was also looking at silicon originating or exported from Kazakhstan, Laos, Norway, Russia and Thailand after Quebec Silicon said its revenue, market share, production and jobs would fall due to price undercutting.
Quebec Silicon, which is based in Becancour, Quebec, is a subsidiary of Globe Speciality Metals, one of the world’s largest producers of silicon metal.
Silicon metal is used by aluminum producers as an alloying agent and by the chemical industry to produce chemicals known as silicones.
The agency was also investigating whether Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Norway and Thailand are subsidizing their silicon metal industries, it said. It will issue a decision later this year.
(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Alan Crosby)
