Cold-rolled sheets are produced by processing hot-rolled steel sheets and are applied in various segments, including automobiles and electronics. (image: POSCO)
SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The U.S. Commerce Department has decided to further lower its tariff on cold-rolled steel products by South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO, industry sources said Tuesday.
According to the sources, the U.S. government recently decided to impose a 3.23 percent tariff on cold-rolled steel sheets produced by POSCO, down from its preliminary decision of 4.51 percent. The figure is based on anti-dumping and countervailing duties of 2.68 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively.
Cold-rolled sheets are produced by processing hot-rolled steel sheets and are applied in various segments, including automobiles and electronics.
The move came after Washington lowered the tariff on POSCO’s cold-rolled steel sheets to 4.51 percent from the previous 59.72 percent in October last year.
Washington, however, maintained its preliminary decision for a 36.59 percent anti-dumping duty on Hyundai Steel Co., another South Korean steelmaker. The countervailing duty for Hyundai Steel has not yet been announced.
Industry watchers said Washington apparently used the Adverse Facts Available (AFA) provision, which allows for the levying of extremely high anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs if an accused company doesn’t provide the data demanded by authorities.
“We plan to continue to make efforts to normalize the export to the United States,” an official from POSCO said.
The department also decided to impose tariffs of 32.24 percent and 16.73 percent on oil country tubular goods (OCTGs) exported by Nexteel Co. and SeAh Steel Corp., respectively.
OCTG is one of the fastest growing sectors in the pipelines market, and South Korean producers enjoyed a boom in the North American country’s oil and gas industry.
(Yonhap)
