US imposes duties on imported Turkish welded line pipes

ALBANY (Scrap Monster):  The US Department of Commerce (DOC) on Tuesday decided to impose preliminary duties on imports of welded line pipe from Turkey. The decision was based on the finding that these products are being produced using unfair government subsidies. The cheaper imports of these products have hampered the growth of the domestic industry. Meantime, imports from South Korea were excluded from duties.

The US DOC determined that the Turkish producers and exporters enjoyed excessive subsidies on shipments of welded line pipe out of the country. It was found that the mandatory respondents Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret AS and Tosyali Dis Ticaret AS had received subsidy rates of 8.85% and 3.76% respectively. All other companies had been assigned a preliminary subsidy rate of 4.36%.

On the other hand, the subsidies of South Korean producers and exporters were found below the threshold. DOC found that the mandatory respondents NEXTEEL Co Ltd. and SeAH Steel Corporation received subsidy rates of 0.47% and 0.52%, respectively. The DOC decided to exempt South Korean imports from duties. However, it stated that parallel investigation is on to determine whether the imported products were sold at below cost prices. Positive finding from the investigation may lead to imposition of duties on such products.

Following DOC’s affirmative decision on duties, US Customs and Border Protection will be instructed to collect cash deposits for imports of welded line pipe from Turkey.