Posted on 24 Nov 2021
Imports of welded steel oil country tubular goods, completed in Brunei or the Philippines, and made using inputs from China, are circumventing the existing US antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese OCTG, the Commerce Department said in a final determination.
As a result, Commerce said it will instruct US Customs and Border Protection to require antidumping duty cash deposits on these imports equal to the China-wide rate of 99.14% and countervailing duty cash deposits of 27.08%, in line with the "all-others" rate established for China, according to a Federal Register notice dated Nov. 22.
Welded OCTG assembled or completed in Brunei or the Philippines using non-Chinese inputs is not subject to these circumvention inquiries. However, because the mandatory respondents in the case are unable to track welded OCTG to the country of origin for the inputs used in production, Commerce did not implement a certification process at the preliminary stage of the investigation and will require cash deposits on all entries of welded OCTG produced in Brunei or the Philippines, it said.
The department self-initiated the circumvention investigation in November 2020.
Anti-circumvention inquiries are typically initiated in response to allegations filed by the domestic industry; however, the regulations provide that it can self-initiate inquiries when it determines from available information that an investigation is warranted.
Shipments of welded OCTG from Brunei to the US increased in value from zero during 2014-2016, to $29 million during 2017-2019, according to Commerce. Shipments of welded OCTG from the Philippines to the US, meanwhile, increased in value from $69 million to $105 million, comparing import data from the same periods, it said.
Source:Platts
