The Korea Herald

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US ordered to recalculate antidumping margin of Hyundai steel products

By Joel Lee

Published : Jan. 11, 2018 - 20:27

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Commerce Department to recalculate the antidumping margin of Hyundai Steel Co. products in a partial victory for South Korea‘s second-biggest steelmaker.

Jane A. Restani, a judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade, said in a slip opinion on Wednesday (local time) that the Commerce Department’s final results in its antidumping duty investigation of South Korean corrosion-resistant steel products should be remanded.

In 2015, the Commerce Department launched an investigation over the possible sale of corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea and other countries, claiming they were being sold at less than fair value.

The department calculated a final dumping margin of 47.8 percent for Hyundai‘s steel products in May 2016 by applying an adverse inference to the facts available (AFA).

A Hyundai Steel plant in Dangjin county, Chungnam Province (Yonhap) A Hyundai Steel plant in Dangjin county, Chungnam Province (Yonhap)

The margin jumped by more than 13 times from Jan. 4, 2016, when the commerce department determined a preliminary antidumping duty of 3.51 percent for Hyundai steel products.

Hyundai has requested that the court hold the final determination unsupported by substantial record evidence and otherwise not in accordance with the law. Hyundai has also asked that Commerce’s determination be remanded for correction of error.

Hyundai alleged that the Commerce Department failed to apply the “special rule” applicable to merchandise with value added after importation to Hyundai‘s tailor-welded blanks and auto parts.

Still, the court said the department’s decision not to apply the “special rule” was reasonable.

The court also said Commerce‘s application of AFA was reasonable in regards to Hyundai’s sales of tailor-welded blanks and auto parts, but unreasonable when it came to Hyundai‘s sales of skelp, sheets and blanks (SSBs).

SSBs are products created by splitting, shearing or stamping coils of corrosion-resistant steel products.

The court said the Commerce Department’s identification of Hyundai‘s data deficiencies over its tailor-welded blanks and auto parts was timely, and it provided an opportunity to respond. But it did not identify Hyundai’s data deficiencies regarding its SSBs in a timely way.

Restani said Hyundai‘s motion for judgment on the agency record was granted, in part, and denied, in part.

“This matter is remanded for Commerce to provide Hyundai the opportunity to remedy data deficiencies as to SSBs, and to recalculate Hyundai’s antidumping margin as appropriate,” she said in her verdict, which was posted on the court‘s website. (Yonhap)