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Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing: Prelim AD Cash Deposit Rates Take Effect

The Commerce Department made preliminary affirmative antidumping duty determinations that imports of cold-drawn mechanical tubing from India (A-533-873), Italy (A-475-838), Germany (A-428-845), China (A-570-058), South Korea (A-580-892) and Switzerland (A-441-801) are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The agency will impose AD duty cash requirements on entries of subject merchandise beginning on Nov. 22, except for some companies from Italy, South Korea and China, for which cash deposit requirements retroactively begin Aug. 24.

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Commerce already ordered suspension of liquidation in its preliminary determination in the concurrent countervailing duty investigations on cold-drawn mechanical tubing from China and India, issued in September (see 1709220011)

Critical Circumstances for Some Companies, Cash Deposits Retroactive 90 Days

Commerce made a finding that some exporters for cold-drawn mechanical tubing from Italy (Dalmine and Metalfer) and South Korea (Sang Shin), as well as all Chinese companies except Huacheng, increased their exports to the U.S. in the months before the preliminary determination, in an attempt to get in as much product as possible before the imposition of cash deposit requirements. This "critical circumstances" finding by the agency allows it to retroactively suspend liquidation and require AD duty cash deposits for subject merchandise from these companies 90 days before the preliminary determination, i.e., Aug. 24. Subject merchandise from all other Italian and South Korean companies, the Chinese company Huacheng, and all Indian, German and Swiss companies is subject to AD suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements beginning Nov. 22.

(Liquidation is already suspended as of Sept. 25, 2017, for subject merchandise from India and China as a result of Commerce's preliminary CV duty determination.)

Commerce Preliminarily Modifies Scope

Commerce is preliminarily modifying the scope of duties in response to requests from the domestic steel manufacturers that originally requested these AD/CVD investigations. To clarify that the scope does not cover pieces of cold-drawn mechanical tubing less than 12 inches long that has been cut from subject tubing, Commerce has preliminarily determined to modify the first sentence of the scope as follows:

  • "The scope of these investigations covers cold-drawn mechanical tubing of carbon and alloy steel (cold-drawn mechanical tubing) of circular cross-section, 304.8 mm or more in length, in actual outside diameters less than 331mm, and regardless of wall thickness, surface finish, end finish or industry specification."

Commerce is also clarifying the scope's application to mechanical tubing that has undergone "other cold-finishing operations" (i.e., other than cold-drawing). The scope now says that "other cold-finishing operations that may be used to produce subject merchandise include cold-rolling and cold-sizing the tubing." Commerce also added industry standard EN 10305-3 to the scope "as an example of subject cold-drawn mechanical tubing typically certified to meet industry specifications for cold-drawn tubing," it said.

Indian Company Goodluck Preliminarily Exempt

Commerce will not suspend liquidation at this time for AD duty purposes for cold-drawn mechanical tubing from India produced and exported by Goodluck due to that company's zero percent AD duty rate in this preliminary determination. If Goodluck continues to receive a rate in the final AD duty determination it will be permanently exempt from any AD duty order issued in connection with this investigation. However, subject merchandise from the company is still subject to suspension of liquidation for CV duty purposes.

AD Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposit Requirements

Commerce will instruct CBP to suspend liquidation for all entries of subject merchandise that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, on or after the dates listed in the tables below, and require cash deposits at the following rates:

India

ProducerExporterAD RateAdjusted*Sus. Liq.
Goodluck India LimitedGoodluck India LimitedzeroN/A11/22/17
Tube Products of India, Ltd. a unit of Tube Investments of India LimitedTube Products of India, Ltd. a unit of Tube Investments of India Limited7.57%4.86%11/22/17
All Others7.57%4.86%11/22/17

*As adjusted for export subsidies found in Commerce's CV duty preliminary determination.

Italy

CompanyAD RateSus. Liq.
Dalmine S.p.A.36.8%08/24/17
Metalfer S.p.A.31.42%08/24/17
All Others33.75%11/22/17

Germany

CompanyAD RateSus. Liq.
BENTELER Steel/Tube GmbH/BENTELER Distribution International GmbH75.39%11/22/17
Mubea Fahrwerksfedern GmbH209.06%11/22/17
Salzgitter Mannesmann Line Pipe GmbH209.06%11/22/17
All Others75.39%11/22/17

China

ProducerExporterAD RateAdjusted*Sus. Liq.
Jiangsu Hongyi Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.Jiangsu Hongyi Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.186.89%186.89%08/24/17
Zhangjiagang Huacheng Import & Export Co., Ltd.Zhangjiagang Huacheng Import & Export Co., Ltd.61.59%61.57%11/22/17
Anji Pengda Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.Anji Pengda Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Changshu Fushilai Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.Changshu Fushilai Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Changshu Special Shaped Steel Tube Co., Ltd.Changshu Special Shaped Steel Tube Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Jiangsu Liwan Precision Tube Manufacturing Co., LtdSuzhou Foster International Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Zhangjiagang Precision Tube Manufacturing Co., Ltd.Suzhou Foster International Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Wuxi Dajin High-Precision Cold-Drawn Steel Tube Co., Ltd.Wuxi Huijin International Trade Co., Ltd61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Zhangjiagang Shengdingyuan Pipe-Making Co., Ltd.Zhangjiagang Shengdingyuan Pipe-Making Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Zhejiang Minghe Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.Zhejiang Minghe Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.61.59%61.58%08/24/17
Zhejiang Dingxin Steel Tube Manufacturing Co., LtdZhejiang Dingxin Steel Tube Manufacturing Co., Ltd61.59%61.58%08/24/17
China-wide Entity186.89%186.89%08/24/17

*As adjusted for export subsidies found in Commerce's CV duty preliminary determination.

South Korea

CompanyAD RateSus. Liq.
Sang Shin Ind. Co., Ltd.48%08/24/17
Yulchon Co., Ltd.5.1%11/22/17
All Others5.1%11/22/17

Switzerland

CompanyAD RateSus. Liq.
Benteler Rothrist AG34.15%11/22/17
Mubea Präzisionsstahlrohr AG (MPST)68.59%11/22/17
All Others36.17%11/22/17

(The period of investigation is 04/01/16 - 03/31/17, except for China, where it is 10/1/16 - 03/31/17. See Commerce's notice for more information, including the scope, suspension of liquidation, etc. See 1705150017 for a summary of the initiation of this AD duty investigation, and 1704190034 for a summary of the underlying petition.)

(Federal Register 11/22/17)