WASHINGTON: The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday found the local steel industry was being squeezed by cheap imports from Japan, clearing the way for duties on Japanese diffusion-annealed, nickel-plated flat-rolled steel.

Thomas Steel Strip Corp, a division of Indian conglomerate Tata Steel, had complained the imports, used in batteries and fuel lines, were being sold at unfairly low prices.

Under a Commerce Department ruling last month, products from world No. 2 steel maker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp will have a dumping margin of 77.7 percent, while other companies, including Toyo Kohan Co, have a margin of 45.42 percent.

In 2013, imports of diffusion-annealed, nickel-plated flat-rolled steel from Japan were estimated at $12.6 million.