Duty revisions may punish US importers of Turkish rebar
After the dust has settled, some importers are beginning to realize that the recent administrative review may have disastrous consequences for their bottom line.
The current saga reportedly revolves around the Turkish mill Habas and two U.S.-based importers. Before this latest preliminary determination, Habas' effective anti-dumping rate was 2.42%. That rate has now been raised to 26.07%. If the rate remains the same after further investigation by Department of Commerce (DOC), the two importers will get a huge bill more than two years after having brought these shipments in to the U.S.
For the review period, Habas exported shipments of approximately 40,000 metric tons at a customs value of $10 million. This means more than $2.5 million in unexpected duties could be at stake.
The recent decision was a preliminary one, and the effective duties will be assessed only after DOC's final determination in August. Habas argues that it did not engage in dumping, but the DOC thought otherwise. Though hopeful that it will convince the DOC that the company's calculating methods are valid, the possibility remains that the AD rate may not come down as much as Habas hopes. Anything beyond the calculated anti-dumping duty rate will surely hurt the importers, particularly in this slow year.
On a positive note, another Turkish mill exporting to the US, Colakoglu, was able to lower their rate from 9.52% to 0.01% (de minimis). While Colakoglu can revel in the zero rate, the anti dumping order remains in place and could be reviewed any time.
The real success story belongs to another
rebar producer in
Turkey, Icdas. The Commerce Department announced that it intends to revoke Icdas' antidumping order. The basis for this decision is that if the preliminary results are confirmed by the final results, Icdas will have had a zero or de minimis dumping margin for three consecutive years. Icdas sold
rebar in commercial quantities during each of those years.
Importing steel products into the U.S. is especially risky business if the products have anti dumping orders against them, regardless of what the prevailing rate may be. These importers acted upon the data available at a given time, i.e. 2.42% duties for Habas, only to find out how dramatically things can change a few years after the goods had already cleared U.S. Customs.