Trade Cases

Commerce adjusts import duties on Korean plate

Written by Laura Miller

March 7, 2024

Antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) rates on imports of cut-to-length plate from two major South Korean producers may soon be adjusted.

The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is conducting administrative reviews of both the AD and CVD orders on CTL carbon-quality steel plate from South Korea. It released the preliminary results this week in Federal Register filings reviewed by SMU.

The mandatory respondents in both reviews are Korea’s Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. and Hyundai Steel Co.

ITA rescinded both reviews for BDP International and Sung Jin Steel Co. after Nucor, SSAB, and Cleveland-Cliffs withdrew their request for examinations of the two companies.

The final results of ITA’s administrative reviews will be released in early July.

Last year, Commerce and the International Trade Commission decided in a sunset review that the AD and CVDs on CTL plate imports from South Korea, India, and Indonesia should remain in place for another five years.

AD review

The ITA preliminarily found that Korean producers/exporters did not make sales of the subject plate at below normal value during the period of review, Feb. 1, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2023.

As a result, the ITA set 0% preliminary AD margins for Dongkuk and Hyundai.

Dongkuk, Hyundai, BDP, and Sung Jin most recently received AD margins of 6.09% in the 2020-21 administrative review. That margin was carried over into the next year, as ITA rescinded the 2021-22 review based on the timely withdrawal of all review requests.

Should ITA’s initial results be adopted in its final results, Dongkuk and Hyundai’s AD margins will decrease, while BDP and Sung Jin’s rates will be maintained.

CVD review

For the CVD review, ITA is looking at the 2022 calendar year.

ITA determined initial subsidy rates of 1.93% for Dongkuk and 2.21% for Hyundai. These rates are slightly higher than the 1.08% rate found for both companies in the 2021 review.

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.

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