Ten OCTG importers found guilty of duty evasion

The pipe at issue came from Thai manufacturers Petroleum Equipment (Thailand) Co. and Thai Oil Pipe Co. and was imported by Amek, Aluminum & Stainless, Centric Pipe, Copley International Group, Energy Pipe & Equipment Rentals, Kana Energy Services, LE Commodities, Lixin Energy Group, Longfellow Energy, Trek Metals, and TSPGA.

CBP began suspending the liquidation of the subject OCTG in May/June after making an affirmative preliminary determination of duty evasion practices.

The agency says the 10 guilty importers of record must backpay the duties owed. Trade law dictates that entries covered by the investigation include those up to one year before the date CBP officially received the evasion allegations.

That means the companies could owe a combined duty of 112.55% on every ton of subject OCTG imported since Feb. 1, 2023. That’s a full year before CBP received the initial allegations of duty evasion from the US OCTG Manufacturers Association (USOMA).

US OCTG industry cheers decision

Members of Washington D.C.-based USOMA include Tenaris USA, Vallourec Star, Borusan Pipe US, PTC Liberty Tubulars, Welded Tube US, Axis Pipe and Tube, and BENTELER Steel and Tube.

Luca Zanotti, USOMA chairman and Tenaris USA president, called CBP’s decision “a win for the domestic OCTG industry.”

“We are grateful to Customs for helping to detect and stop unfair trade practices that threaten the sustainability of the domestic OCTG industry and put American jobs at risk,” Zanotti said in a statement from USOMA.

USOMA Vice Chairman and Vallourec North America SVP Jacky Massaglia noted, “Given the extreme actions we know that parties in other EAPA investigations have taken when found liable for these duties, the fight to recover these funds is only half over. We urge Customs to take firm action to assure that the duties that have been found to be owed through these investigations are fully collected.”

The trade association estimates Customs can recover at least $310 million from this EAPA case.

EAPA, the Enforce and Protect Act, became law in 2016, setting procedures for any interested party to make a claim of duty evasion. Since its implementation, CBP has launched more than 300 investigations and identified over $1 billion in AD/CVDs owed to the US government.