Rebar fabricators testified that imports of rebar from Cuba, Korea and Turkey, which were the subject of the inquiry in Rebar I, had been brought into Canada by a small number of importers and sold primarily to large fabricators.15 In this case, imports appeared to be more pervasive with competitive pressures, inducing small, medium and large fabricators to use the subject rebar.16 The Tribunal heard testimony that groups of small fabricators were being invited to participate in the purchase of boatloads of rebar.17 Rebar fabricators appearing before the Tribunal submitted that the market for rebar is very price sensitive and that the cost of rebar is, by far, the largest cost component that they must consider when bidding for contracts.18 As one of the witnesses for Salit Steel testified:
Une fois que les barres d'armature importées à bas prix ont été disponibles sur le marché, il leur fallait les acheter pour demeurer concurrentiels avec les autres constructeurs-monteurs21. Les producteurs nationaux ont aussi soutenu que l'obligation des constructeurs-monteurs de livrer concurrence pour obtenir des projets de construction en utilisant des barres d'armature importées à bas prix sous-tend les éléments de preuve qui montrent les pertes de ventes, de l'ordre de plus de 130 000 tonnes en 2000, alléguées par la branche de production nationale22.