Low-Carbon Steel Blanks Within Chinese Tapered Roller Bearings AD Scope, Commerce Says

Low-carbon steel blanks imported from China are covered by the scope of an antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings and parts thereof from China, the Commerce Department said in a Sept. 19 scope ruling.

Importer Precision Components Inc. (PCI) requested the ruling, and said the steel blanks as being made from “non-standard” steel. The blanks are made of low-carbon alloy steel with a carbon content of approximately 0.17% to 0.23% and a manganese content of approximately 0.6% to 0.95%. PCI said that the parts had not been heat treated due to the low carbon content. The blanks are hollow cylinders with cross sections of a “right triangular or right triangular with flanges on the end or ends of the hypotenuse."

The scope of the AD order says tapered roller bearings include flange, take up cartridge and hanger units incorporating tapered roller bearings, as well as tapered roller housings (except pillow blocks) incorporating tapered rollers, with or without spindles, whether or not for automotive use.

Commerce concluded that while the scope language does not explicitly address tapered roller bearings made of low carbon steel or bearing steel, unfinished tapered roller bearing parts "are explicitly covered." PCI’s blanks are unfinished tapered roller bearing parts, "since such products are destined to become finished TRBs through further processing and finishing," Commerce said.

The Timken Company, a U.S. producer of domestic like products, submitted comments arguing that Commerce had already determined in 2020 that the items at issue are within the scope of the order and said that pictorial evidence showed the PCI's scope ruling concerned the same product Commerce had previously considered. The department agreed with Timken that the products in the scope request were "the same products that Commerce reviewed in the 2020 Final Scope Ruling."

PCI unsuccessfully argued that the low-carbon steel blanks have a chemical composition that didn't match the description in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule for ball and roller bearing steel. PCI also distinguished the items in the 2020 scope ruling, saying that they were of a different grade of bearing steel, which Commerce did not previously consider.