Trade Cases

Pipe import duties sunset for Brazil, kept for six other countries

December 11, 2023

The International Trade Commission (ITC) made its final injury determination in a sunset review of import duties on circular welded pipe from a handful of countries.

While the duties will remain in place for another five years for six countries, the duties are being revoked for Brazil.

The agency found that revoking the existing antidumping and countervailing duties (ADs and CVDs) on the pipe imports from India, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey would likely continue injuring the domestic industry. As a result, those duties will remain on the books for at least another five years.

Earlier this year, the US Department of Commerce found that allowing the duties to expire would lead to the continuation of dumping at margins of 87.83% for India, 1.2% for Mexico, 1.2% for South Korea, 3.91-27.65% for Taiwan, 15.6% for Thailand, and 23.12% for Turkey.

For Brazil, Commerce determined dumping margins of 103.38% would likely persist if the duties were continued.

Despite Commerce’s findings for Brazil, the ITC found that allowing the country’s AD import duties on circular pipe and tube to sunset would not likely injure the domestic industry within a reasonably foreseeable time. Therefore, the duties are being revoked.

The ITC will issue a public report on its findings late in January.

Sunsetting duties on Brazilian steel is now a trend

Allowing import duties on Brazilian steel to sunset while at the same time maintaining duties for other countries has become a trend in recent years.

The ITC allowed duties on Brazilian steel plate to expire earlier this year. And in October 2022, it permitted duties on Brazilian hot-rolled coil to also expire.

This is notable because it could allow the South American country to become a more important sheet, plate, and welded tube supplier to the US market, especially since Brazil does not face a 25% Section 232 tariff. Brazil is instead limited by its Section 232 quota.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.