Steel Products Prices North America

US DOC Initiates Investigation of Imports of Line Pipe from South Korea & Turkey

November 6, 2014

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today the initiation of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on imports of welded line pipe from South Korea and Turkey.

The information below is quoted from the text of the International Trade Administration press release:

The merchandise covered by these investigations is circular welded carbon and alloy steel (other than stainless steel) pipe of a kind used for oil or gas pipelines (welded line pipe), not more than 24 inches in nominal outside diameter, regardless of wall thickness, length, surface finish, end finish, or stenciling. Welded line pipe is normally produced to the American Petroleum Institute (API) specification 5L, but can be produced to comparable foreign specifications, to proprietary grades, or can be non-graded material. All pipe meeting the physical description set forth above, including multiple-stenciled pipe with an API or comparable foreign specification line pipe stencil is covered by the scope of these investigations.

In 2013, imports of welded line pipe from Korea and Turkey were valued at an estimated $554.1 million and $46.7 million.

For the purpose of AD investigations, dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than its fair value. For the purpose of CVD investigations, countervailable subsidies are financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are contingent either upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods.

The petitioners for these investigations are: American Cast Iron Pipe Company (Birmingham, AL); Energex, a division of JMC Steel Group (Chicago, IL); Maverick Tube Corporation (Houston, TX); Northwest Pipe Company (Vancouver, WA); Stupp Corporation, a division of Stupp Bros., Inc. (Baton Rouge, LA); Tex-Tube Corporation (Houston, TX); TMK IPSCO (Houston, TX); and Welspun Tubular LLC USA (Little Rock, AR).

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its preliminary injury determinations on or before December 1, 2014.

If the ITC determines that there is a reasonable indication that imports of welded line pipe from Korea and/or Turkey materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, the investigations will continue and Commerce will be scheduled to make its preliminary CVD determinations in January 2015 and its preliminary AD determinations in March 2015, unless the statutory deadlines are extended. If the ITC’s preliminary determinations are negative, the investigations will be terminated. (Source: International Trade Administration)