Exporter Challenges Trio of Anti-Circ Findings on Steel Pipes and Tubes From China, India, Korea

Exporter SeAH Steel VINA Corp. filed a trio of complaints at the Court of International Trade on Jan. 5 to contest the Commerce Department's finding that pipes and tubes it exports from Vietnam, made using hot-rolled steel from China, South Korea and India, are circumventing antidumping duty orders on steel pipes from those three countries (SeAH Steel VINA Corp. v. U.S. , CIT # 23-00256, -00257, -00258).

The Chinese and Korean cases concerned the AD orders on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from the two countries, while the Indian case dealt with the AD order on welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes from India. In all three suits, SeAH argued that Commerce improperly said it was "not bound by its previous determination that SeAH VINA's exports" made using imported hot-rolled steel were products of Vietnam.

The exporter added that the decision to levy AD/CVD against SeAH's goods "where Commerce and the [International Trade Commission] previously determined that SeAH VINA's [circular welded pipe] exports were not dumped, did not receive countervailable subsidies, and did not cause injure to the U.S. industry was arbitrary and capricious."

The company also challenged the agency's findings pertaining to the production steps taken in Vietnam using imported steel, arguing that Commerce shouldn't have determined that production of the goods in Vietnam amounted to "assembly or completion." Commerce also failed to support its finding that the process of completing the pipes and tubes in Vietnam "was minor or insignificant and that the value added" was small, the complaints said.

SeAH also took issue with Commerce's failure to account for its "pattern of trade and sourcing and the lack of SeAH VINA's pattern of affiliation with any company located in China that" made steel pipe or hot-rolled steel.