CIT Upholds Hyundai's de Minimis Mark After Commerce Drops CVD Rate for Port Usage Rights

The Court of International Trade on Feb. 20 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the 2018 review of the countervailing duty order on corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea. In its remand redetermination, Commerce lowered exporter Hyundai Steel Co.'s CVD rate to a de minimis mark after removing the subsidy attributed to the company's usage rights for the North Incheon Harbor in South Korea (see 2401240062) (Hyundai Steel Co. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00304).

The agency said it considered Hyundai's costs of constructing the harbor in its benefit calculation, though it noted its disagreement that the construction costs should be considered at all. Judge M. Miller Baker upheld the remand results given that they went "unchallenged."

The exporter built the North Incheon Harbor in 2006, then reverted ownership of the port to the Korean government in 2007. Since it built the port, Hyundai was allowed to freely use it and collect berthing income from third-party users for a 41-year period. In the CVD review, Commerce said this was a countervailable subsidy because the Korean government had forgone revenue it would have gained from collecting the fees itself.

The trade court remanded the finding, telling Commerce to consider Hyundai's construction costs (see 2309270034).