South Korea will appeal the World Trade Organization (WTO) against a US ITC ruling to impose antidumping duties on OCTG imports, the South Korean trading ministry announced Monday. According to the statement the US duties, which are valued at about $100 million annually, puts South Korea at a disadvantage compared to other sources of OCTG imports to the US. South Korea is aiming to have the duties revoked entirely.
The US ITC ruling in August was also levied against India, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. South Korean OCTG producers levied duties ranging from 9.89 percent to 15.75 percent, depending on the company. Vietnam had the highest duties, at 24.22 percent to 111.47 percent, whereas Indian producers saw duties as low as 2.05 percent.
"We believe that the US commerce department potentially violated WTO rules when it investigated the anti-dumping case, including calculating dumping margins," the South Korean trade ministry said in a statement. "If our government wins the case, the US has the obligation to correct its action to levy anti-dumping duties."