ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor, AK Steel and US Steel on Friday petitioned the US Department of Commerce to launch a circumvention inquiry into Chinese sheet steel that's being processed into cold-rolled coil and galvanized sheet in Vietnam.
The petition follows a filing by California Steel Industries and Steel Dynamics Inc. on Thursday that also argued to include US imports of CRC and galvanized sheet in the antidumping and countervailing duties on China.
The mills said that after China received preliminary countervailing and antidumping duties on CRC and galvanized sheet, imports of those products surged from Vietnam. According to the petition, Vietnamese hot-rolled coil imports rose by 41% in the first half of 2016 relative to the first half of 2015, and in that time CRC imports jumped 77%.
"Such a significant and sudden increase in Vietnamese imports of Chinese hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel demonstrates a clear shift in Chinese [corrosion-resistant sheet] producers' exports as a result of the AD and CVD investigations," the petition said.
Commerce will decide whether to initiate an investigation within 45 days of receiving the petition, and at the same time, it may issue a preliminary determination. "Due to the exceptional circumstances surrounding this request," the mills asked Commerce to issue a preliminary circumvention finding, suspend liquidations of entries, and require cash deposits on imports of CRC and galvanized sheet from Vietnam.
The applicable dumping margin on Chinese CRC is 265.79% and the subsidy rate is 256.44%. For galvanized sheet, Commerce found a 199.43% dumping margin and a 39.05-256.44% range of subsidy rates.
Circumvention inquiries are completed in 300 days of initiation under normal circumstances, according to the regulation.
In a circumvention inquiry, Commerce will be tasked with determining whether the completion of CRC and galvanized sheet in Vietnam is "minor or insignificant."
Finishing CRC or galvanized sheet in Vietnam involves "one or two steps," depending on the substrate used, the mills argued. "Although the unrolled coil will go through different steps including cleaning, annealing, and coating, this entire process takes place on the same line and adds a much smaller percentage of the final product's value," the petition said.
