The United States is conducting anti-dumping, countervailing duties probe on South Korean steel pipe products, following complaints by a local company, an international traders organization said Saturday.

The investigation on seamless carbon and alloy steel standard, line and pressure pipes was officially launched on July 28 by the US Department of Commerce, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said.

It said Texas-based steelmaker Vallourec Star, claiming unfair price cutting, requested a review of products imported from South Korea, Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

The specially made pipes are widely used in chemical plants, nuclear power generation facilities, airplanes and vehicles.

The US company argued that cheap imports were damaging local industries and specifically requested authorities to check if South Korean and Russian products were getting state subsidies. It also demanded dumping margins of 119.07-132.16 percent to be imposed on imported steel pipes.

Anti-dumping actions are taken if companies sell products below what it takes to make them, while countervailing duties are imposed if a government gives subsidies to companies so they can make certain goods cheaply. Both activities can disrupt the market and hurt fair competition.

KITA said that Iljin Steel, Hanse Steel and Husteel are being probed, and said the US International Trade Commission (ITC) will carry out the actual investigation and make its recommendations to the commerce department around March 2021.

If the ITC finds unfair price-cutting practices, it will ask Washington to impose punitive duties on imports. (Yonhap)