The US Department of Commerce has proceeded with an affirmative preliminary determination in a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of Russian and South Korean seamless carbon and alloy steel standard line and pressure pipe.
Releasing its preliminary results of the investigation, Commerce assessed a rate of 4.39pc on Russian exporters, while those from South Korea were assessed 2.13pc.
The US Customs and Border Protection will collect cash deposits from importers for the relevant pipe per the preliminary rates. In 2019, Russia imported $39.5mn and South Korea imported $24.45mn in the relevant pipes. Commerce is proceeding with concurrent antidumping duty (AD) investigations of standard line and pressure pipes from Russia and South Korea along with the Czech Republic and Ukraine. A decision for the Czech Republic is expected on Dec 16 and the remaining countries on February 4, 2021.
Unless the deadline is extended, final CVD determinations on this case are expected around April 19, 2021. An affirmative ruling by Commerce will move the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to final injury assessment by June 3, 2021. The petition for the investigation was initiated by Vallourec Star based out of Houston, Texas.