Graphite Rods Imported for Making Molds Still Covered by Small Graphite Electrodes Duties
Graphite rods that Boart Longyear says it imports for machining into specialty components for use as molds are covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on small diameter graphite electrodes from China (A-570-929), the Commerce Department said in a scope ruling issued in early February.
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The graphite rods meet the physical characteristics of small diameter graphite electrodes described in the scope, and the scope of the orders includes unfinished graphite electrodes, Commerce said. Despite Boart’s purported use of the rods for molds, the graphite rods could also be processed into graphite pin joining systems, which are covered by the scope of antidumping and countervailing duties, the agency said.
Commonly referred to as “graphite stock,” the rods imported by Boart are imported in diameters ranging from 2.8 inches to 10.25 inches, and in lengths ranging from 6 to 12 inches. After importation, the rods are machined into molds for the crowns of coring drill bits via a furnacing process. While the graphite rods are classifiable under a tariff schedule subheading listed in the scope, 3801.10.5000, that provision is a basket category that was not originally part of the scope, Boart said, according to Commerce.
But while not imported as electrodes, the rods meet the dimensional requirements of the scope as having a diameter of 16 inches or less. Though the rods aren’t made from needle coke, the original petitions from the orders and the International Trade Commission report mentioned other types of coke that can be used to make subject merchandise, Commerce said.
And while small diameter graphite electrodes are generally used in furnaces as electrodes, the scope only says that they are “of a kind used in furnaces,” which applies to the rods imported by Boart. “Boart clearly states that its graphite rods are used in furnaces as boats or molds,” Commerce said. “Boart contends that its graphite rods are distinct because they are ‘not used as heating elements in the furnaces’ like SDGE, however, the scope of the Order does not contain any language about how merchandise is used in a furnace,” it said.