Commerce Finds Circumvention of P&T Duties Via Vietnam

The department preliminarily found affirmative instances of duty circumvention in six out of seven investigations, according to filings with the Federal Register. In all the cases, Vietnam is the country in which pipe and tube is allegedly being completed using hot-rolled substrate from other countries. This effectively avoids the payment of antidumping and countervailing duties on pipe and tube products from those countries and is illegal.

Duties are being circumvented on light-walled rectangular tubing from China, Taiwan, and South Korea, Commerce found, as are duties on welded carbon pipe from China, welded standard pipe from India and welded non-alloy pipe from Korea.

If Commerce finds affirmative determinations in its final renderings, and no acceptable certification of the country of origin can be provided, duties will be collected at high rates currently used for Chinese-origin products (AD rates of 85.55-255.07% and CVD rates of 15.28-39.01%). “This is to prevent evasion,” Commerce said, as the duties against China are higher than the rates for the other countries.

The agency made preliminary findings that circular welded carbon steel pipe and tube and circular welded non-alloy steel pipe completed in Vietnam using Taiwanese substrate is not circumventing duties. It is asking interested parties to comment on the initial findings.

Commerce opened these duty circumvention inquiries last August at the request of US producers Atlas Tube Inc., Bull Moose Tube Co., Maruichi American Corp., Nucor Tubular Products Inc., Searing Industries, Vest Inc., Wheatland Tube Co., and the United Steelworkers union.

Imports of all steel pipe and tube products from Vietnam totaled more than 86,700 metric tons (95,570 net tons) in 2022, according to data from the Commerce Department’s Steel Import Monitor.

By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com