Nucor Says Commerce Should Have Added CV Duties for South Korean Provision of Electricity

Nucor Corporation says the Commerce Department should have added countervailing duties in an administrative review for the South Korean government's provision of electricity below cost for certain tariff classes, instead of finding the provision of electricity conferred a "non-measurable benefit." In its March 18 complaint at the Court of International Trade, Nucor took particular issue with Commerce's decision to run a "tier three" analysis into the alleged benefit (Nucor Corporation v. United States, CIT #22-00050).

The case concerns the 2019 countervailing duty review into corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea. During the review, Commerce ran a tier three benchmark and found that Korea Electric Power Corporation provided electricity for less than adequate remuneration "under certain tariff classes" but ultimately assigned a non-measurable benefit amount. Commerce looked at KEPCO's overall cost recovery rates and found that while there was a benefit for certain sales under a particular tariff class, overall it recouped its costs plus a profit.

"Nucor argued that the tier three standard for electricity programs as previously articulated by Commerce is that a benefit is conferred 'if the tariff charged to the respondent does not cover "cost of production" plus a "profitable return on investment,"'" the brief said. "Nucor thus argued that Commerce erred by finding that no benefit was conferred under a particular tariff class when KEPCO covered its costs inclusive of investment return on all sales to all customers in the aggregate."