Commerce to Set New AD/CVD on Various Pipe and Tube Imports From Vietnam
The Commerce Department will suspend liquidation and require antidumping and countervailing duty cash deposits on various types of pipes and tubes made in Vietnam from hot-rolled steel produced in China, India, South Korea and Taiwan, after preliminarily finding the goods are circumventing AD/CVD orders on a variety of pipe and tube products from the four countries.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Commerce preliminarily found imports of carbon steel pipe from Vietnam made from South Korean hot-rolled steel are circumventing AD on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea (A-580-809). Likewise, imports from Vietnam made with Chinese hot-rolled steel are circumventing AD/CVD on circular welded carbon quality steel pipe from China (A-570-910/C-570-911), and imports from Vietnam made with Indian hot-rolled steel are circumventing AD on welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes from India (A-533-502).
Commerce also preliminarily found that imports of light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Vietnam made with South Korean hot-rolled steel are circumventing AD on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from South Korea (A-580-859), and imports of the product made with Chinese hot-rolled steel are circumventing AD/CVD on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from China (A-570-914/C-570-915). Finally, Commerce found imports of light-walled rectangular tubing from Vietnam made with Taiwanese hot-rolled steel are circumventing AD on light-walled welded rectangular carbon steel tubing from Taiwan (A-583-803).
Each preliminary anti-circumvention determination applies country-wide to all such products from Vietnam. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements take retroactive effect for entries on or after Aug. 4, 2022, the date that Commerce launched the anti-circumvention inquiries (see 2208090035).
Commerce preliminarily found no circumvention by Vietnamese imports of the AD orders on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes and circular welded nonalloy steel pipe from Taiwan (A-583-008, A-583-814).
Where it did find circumvention, Commerce will put in place a certification process to allow imports free of AD/CVD if the importer and exporter certify that their exports from Vietnam are not made with hot-rolled steel from China, India, South Korea or Taiwan.
For entries of carbon steel pipes and tubes, if no certification is provided at entry, the goods will be subject to cash deposits rates applicable to the AD and CVD orders on circular welded pipe from China (i.e., the China-wide entity rate of 85.55% and the all-others CVD rate of 39.01%). “This is to prevent evasion, given that the AD/CVD rates established for [circular welded pipe] from China are higher than the AD rates established for pipe and tube from India and [circular welded pipe] from Korea,” the agency said.
Where a certification is provided saying the carbon steel pipes and tubes weren’t produced with Chinese hot-rolled steel, Commerce will apply cash deposit rates applicable to pipe and tube from India (i.e., the AD all-others rate of 7.08%), also to prevent evasion, Commerce said.
For entries of light-walled rectangular pipes and tubes, if no certification is provided, the goods will be subject to cash deposit rates applicable to the AD and CVD orders on light-walled rectangular pipes and tubes from China (i.e., the China-wide entity rate of 255.07% and the all-others CVD rate of 15.28%). If only a certification for China is provided, then the AD rate applicable to light-walled welded rectangular carbon steel tubing from Taiwan applies (i.e., the all-others rate of 18.05%).
Commerce said Hoa Phat did not cooperate with the anti-circumvention inquiries on light-walled rectangular pipe, and is ineligible for that certification process.
For all carbon steel pipes and tubes and light-walled rectangular pipe from Vietnam, for entries that have not been liquidated (and entries for which liquidation has not become final), certifications should be completed and signed notice not later than 45 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register (i.e., by May 30). “For such entries, importers and exporters each have the option to complete a blanket certification covering multiple entries, individual certifications for each entry, or a combination thereof,” Commerce said.