The US Department of Commerce has announced five anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) of up to 456.23pc on corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) and cold-rolled steel (CRS) products exported from Vietnam that were originally produced in Korea or Taiwan but were shipped to Vietnam for minor processing to circumvent existing restrictions. These duties apply to all unliquidated entries since Aug 2, 2018.
In 2016, the US authorities imposed preliminary duties on CORE and CRS products exported from South Korea and Taiwan. In the period of review September 2012 to December 2015, before these preliminary duties, Vietnam CORE exports to the US were valued at $22mn. After the duty was imposed, the exports increased by 4096pc to $940mn in January 2016 to April 2019 period. The export of CRS were at $49mn between January 2013 to February 2016, which increased by 922pc to $498mn between March 2016 to April 2019. The surge was observed after preliminary duties were imposed on South Korea and Taiwan in 2016.
US producers including Steel Dynamics, California Steel, AK Steel, ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor and US Steel had requested for the investigation. The US authorities will collect AD and CVD cash deposits on imports of CORE and CRS produced in Vietnam using Korean- or Taiwanese-origin substrate.