The US Department of Commerce (US DOC) has announced its preliminary affirmative rulings that corrosion-resistant steel and certain cold rolled steel flat products imported from Vietnam produced from substrate originating in the China are circumventing existing antidumping (AD) duty and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on the mentioned products imported from China. As a result, the DOC will instruct Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to begin collecting cash deposits on imports of corrosion-resistant steel and cold rolled steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate.
CBP will collect AD and CVD cash deposits on imports of corrosion-resistant steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate at rates of 199.43 percent and 39.05 percent, respectively. CBP will also collect AD and CVD cash deposits on imports of cold rolled steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate at rates of 265.79 percent and 256.44 percent, respectively. These cash deposit rates were previously established in the investigations on cold rolled steel and corrosion-resistant steel from China. Duties will apply to all shipments entering the US on or after November 4, 2016, the date the circumvention inquiries were initiated, that remain unliquidated.
According to the DOC, after preliminary AD and CVD duties were imposed on Chinese products in 2015, shipments of corrosion-resistant steel from Vietnam to the US increased from $2 million to $80 million and shipments of cold rolled steel from Vietnam to the US increased from $9 million to $215 million.
The anti-circumvention inquiry was conducted upon the request lodged by the domestic corrosion-resistant and certain cold rolled steel producers Steel Dynamics, Inc., California Steel Industries, AK Steel Corporation, ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Nucor Corporation, and United States Steel Corporation.
The DOC is currently scheduled to announce its final determinations on February 16, 2018.