WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - 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 weekseparately deciding on

a countervailing duty of 109.1%.

Sibanye-Stillwater, which has production in South

Africa and the United States, and the United Steelworkers union

hadasked 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 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 )