WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday it had made a preliminary finding of dumping of certain imports of carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length (CTL) plate from Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Chinese workers unload a roll of tin plate at Baosteel plant on the outskirts of Shanghai November 20, 2003. REUTERS/Claro Cortes/File Photo

The department said in a statement it established preliminary antidumping duties of up to 130.63 percent, on an Italian company. The finding followed an investigation prompted by a petition from Nucor Corp and U.S. subsidiaries of ArcelorMittal SA and SSAB AB, it said.

In the Austria investigation, the department set a preliminary dumping margin of 41.97 percent for Voestalpine AG and other exporters. In the case of Belgium, the margins ranged from 2.41 percent to 8.98 percent.

For China’s Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel Works Co Ltd, the margin was set at 68.27 percent.

Margins were set at 12.97 percent and 4.26 percent for Dillinger France SA and Industeel France SA, respectively, and for all other French exporters at 8.62 percent.

Germany’s AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke was assigned a preliminary dumping margin of 6.56 percent, as were all other German exporters of CTL plate.

In Italy, NLMK Verona SpA and Officine Tecnosider were assigned margins of 12.53 percent and 6.10 percent, respectively. Marcegaglia SpA declined to participate and was assigned a preliminary margin of 130.63 percent. A margin of 8.34 percent was set for all other Italian exporters.

A preliminary antidumping margin of 14.96 percent was set for Japan’s Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co Ltd, while a margin of 48.64 percent was established for JFE Steel Corp and Shimabun Corp, which declined to participate in the probe. A margin of 14.96 percent was set for all other Japanese exporters.

For South Korea’s POSCO, the margin was set at 6.82 percent.

Taiwan’s Shang Chen Steel Co Ltd and China Steel Corp received preliminary dumping margins of 3.51 percent and 28 percent, respectively, while those for other Taiwanese producers were set at 3.51 percent.

In 2015, U.S. imports of CTL plate were estimated as follows: from Austria, $14.2 million; from Belgium, $19.8 million; from China, $70.3 million; from France, $179 million; from Germany, $196.2 million; from Italy, $37 million; from Japan, $54.9 million; from South Korea, $210 million; and Taiwan, $21 million.

It is used in a wide range of applications, including in buildings and bridgework; agricultural, construction and mining equipment; machine parts and tooling; ships, rail cars, tankers and barges; and large-diameter pipe.

(Story changes to exporters from nations in headline)