[THE INVESTOR] The World Trade Organization’s ruling against the United States over the country slapping anti-dumping duties on steel pipes has been confirmed, Seoul‘s Trade Ministry said on Jan. 15.
In July 2014, the US Commerce Department levied 9.9 percent to 15.8 percent anti-dumping duties on oil country tubular goods imports from Korean steelmakers, such as Hyundai Steel, Nexteel, Seah Steel and Husteel.
OCTG is one of the fastest growing sectors in the pipelines market and Korean producers enjoyed a boom in the North American country’s oil and gas industry.
Five months later, Korea submitted an appeal with the WTO against the tariff, arguing that the US calculation of margins for Korean products was not “reasonable” when compared with the rate of global profit margins.
In November of last year, the WTO dispute settlement panel sided with Seoul’s claim that the US incorrectly applied the term “same general category of products” in determining for OCTG products and didn’t use the actual profit data. The Korean companies exported 98 percent of their products to the United States.
The ruling was confirmed as the US did not appeal within 60 days.
By Alex Lee and newswires (
alexlee@heraldcorp.com)