Global Geopolitical Series: U.S. Commerce Department issues AD & CVD on steel products from Vietnam with substrate from China

The U.S. Commerce Department announced yesterday that it would imposing Anti-dumping Duty (AD) and Countervailing Duty (CVD) on imports of cold-rolled Steel and Corrosion resistant steel from Vietnam saying that these products are produced by importing substrates from China, which are already charged with AD and CVD.

Based on the previous ruling, the Commerce Department has asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of cold Rolled Steel from Vietnam to the tune of 199.76-256.44 percent and cash deposits from importers of Corrosion free steel to the tune of 39.05-199.43 percent.

According to the Commerce Department, Vietnam has been used by Chinese companies to ship steel to the United States in order to bypass the existing AD & CVD on Chinese imports. Shipments of corrosion free steel from Vietnam to the United States increased from $2 million to $80 million after preliminary duties were imposed on Chinese products in 2015 and for cold rolled steel it rose from $9 million to $215 million.

The announcement came after inquiries conducted at the request of domestic producers like Steel Dynamics, Inc. (IN), California Steel Industries (CA), AK Steel Corporation (OH), ArcelorMittal USA LLC (IN), Nucor Corporation (NC), and United States Steel Corporation (PA).