On April 24, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced its decision to initiate antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of welded line pipe from China and an antidumping investigation of welded line pipe from South Korea.
According to the line pipe fact sheet released Thursday by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the DOC, the alleged dumping margins for China range from 57.45 percent to 58.96 percent, while the margins for South Korea range from 41.69 percent to 42.75 percent. The alleged subsidy rate for China is above de minimis (de minimis means less than one percent for developed countries and less than two percent for developing countries).
The US ITC is scheduled to make its preliminary injury determination on or about May 19, 2008. If the ITC determines that there is a reasonable indication that imports from China and South Korea are materially injuring, or threatening material injury to the domestic industry, the investigations will continue, and the DOC will be scheduled to make its preliminary CVD determination in June 2008, and its preliminary AD determinations in September 2008.
Import statistics from the US ITC show that the volume of Chinese welded line pipe exports to the US rose from 25.1 million kg in 2005 to 256.1 million kg in 2007. Meanwhile, South Korean welded line pipe exports to the US rose from 79.8 million kg in 2005 to 161.6 million kg in 2007.