Commerce: Sunsetting P&T duties would lead to more unfair trade

If anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVDs) on certain pipe and tube products were allowed to expire, the US Department of Commerce has found that dumping and illegal subsidies would continue at noteworthy rates.

The agency completed the final portions of its five-year sunset reviews of duties on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and on rectangular pipe and tube, according to filings in the Federal Register.

OCTG

In the OCTG case, Commerce conducted expedited reviews of the AD orders for India, Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, and Ukraine. It also expedited the review of CVDs on Indian and Turkish OCTG.

Commerce found that removing the AD duties on OCTG would likely lead to continued dumping at margins of 11.24% for India, 6.49% for Korea, 35.86% for Turkey, 111.47% for Vietnam, and 7.47% for Ukraine.

The final results of Commerce’s CVD review revealed that removing the duties would likely lead companies to continue receiving countervailable subsidies. The rates Commerce found to recur were 27.77% for India’s Jindal SAW; 13.87% for GVN Fuels Limited, Maharashtra Seamless, and Jindal Pipes; and 20.82% for all other Indian companies. For Turkey, Commerce found the likely continuation of subsidies at 2.87% for Borusan Mannesmann and all other Turkish producers.

LWR P&T

In the expedited rectangular pipe and tube sunset review, Commerce found that revoking the ADs would lead to the recurrence of dumping at margins of 30.66% for Korea, 11.5% for Mexico, 41.71% for Turkey, and 255.07% for China.

If CVDs were removed on rectangular pipe, the department said subsidies would likely continue at rates of 2.20% for Kunshan Lets Win Steel Machinery, 200.58% for Zindao Xiangxing Steel Pipe, and 15.28% for Zhangjiagang Zhongyuan Pipe-making Co., Jiangsu Qiyuan Group, and all other Chinese producers and exporters.

Next steps

The US International Trade Commission has the final say. It will next make its final injury determinations. If it finds removing the duties would be likely to lead to further injury to the domestic market, the duties will not be sunset. But if it determines that dumping or subsidies would not recur, the duties will be allowed to ‘sunset’ or expire.

Sunset reviews are conducted every five years to account for changing market conditions. They are required by international law.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held various editorial positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills since 2007. She joined the SMU team in 2022. 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.