US final tariff penalties on Korean hot rolled steel sharply reduced from 2016

South Korean hot-rolled steel received a sharp relief from preliminary antidumping and countervailing findings from the United States.

According to industry sources on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued its final ruling on Korean-made hot rolled steel plates - antidumping duties on Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco at 10.11 percent, second-largest steelmaker Hyundai Steel at 5.44 percent, and other local makers at 7.78 percent.

Posco shares on Tuesday closed 0.2 percent higher at 245,000 won ($211.90), while Hyundai Steel ended 0.24 percent down at 42,150 won in Seoul trading.

In 2016, the U.S. set antidumping duties of 4.61 percent on Posco, and 9.49 percent on Hyundai Steel. The rate for Hyundai Steel was trimmed to 3.95 percent in the preliminary ruling last November, but Posco was slapped with heavier 7.67 percent duties.

The varied results are reportedly due to the application of the “adverse facts available” provision, a method that allows Washington to arbitrarily levy punitive rates if it finds the petitioner’s documents to be insufficient.

The increased antidumping duties, however, will not much lift total tariffs on Korean-made steels as the U.S. government on June 14 significantly lowered countervailing duties on the products to 0.55 percent for Posco and 0.58 percent for Hyundai Steel.

Total tariffs on Posco were slashed from 63.29 percent to 10.66 percent and Hyundai Steel from 13.38 percent to 6.02 percent, compared to the initial ruling in 2016.

Hot rolled steel plates are products with a wide range of applications from automobiles and building materials. It is one of export mainstays of Korean steelmakers, with Korea’s exports to the U.S. reaching 477,000 tons in 2018.

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