[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 100 (Thursday, May 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24103-24105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-10756]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-580-888]


Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-to-Length Plate From the 
Republic of Korea: Countervailing Duty Order

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of 
Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (the 
ITC), the Department is issuing a countervailing duty (CVD) order on 
certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from the 
Republic of Korea (Korea).

DATES: May 25, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yasmin Bordas at (202) 482-3813 or 
John Corrigan (202) 482-7438, AD/CVD Operations, Office VI, Enforcement 
and Compliance, International Trade

[[Page 24104]]

Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    In accordance with sections 705(d) and 777(i) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.210(c), on April 4, 2017, 
the Department published its affirmative final determination in the CVD 
investigation of CTL plate from Korea.\1\ On May 18, 2017, the ITC 
notified the Department of its affirmative determination, pursuant to 
section 705(d) of the Act, that an industry in the United States is 
materially injured within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the 
Act by reason of subsidized imports of CTL plate from Korea.\2\
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    \1\ See Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-To-Length Plate from 
the Republic of Korea: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Final Negative Critical Circumstances 
Determination, 82 FR 16341 (April 4, 2017) (Final Determination), 
and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum.
    \2\ See Letter from ITC concerning Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-
to-Length Plate from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, 
Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, USITC Investigation Nos. 701-TA-561 and 
731-TA-1317-1318, 1321-1325, and 1327 (Final), USITC Publication 
701-560 (May 2017).
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by this order is CTL plate from Korea. For 
a complete description of the scope of the order, see Appendix I.

Countervailing Duty Order

    As stated above, on May 18, 2017, in accordance with sections 
705(b)(1)(A)(i), and 705(d) of the Act, the ITC notified the Department 
of its determination that the industry in the United States producing 
CTL plate is materially injured by reason of subsidized imports of CTL 
plate from Korea.\3\ Therefore, in accordance with section 705(c)(2) of 
the Act, we are issuing this CVD order.
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    \3\ Id.
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    Because the Department's preliminary determination in the 
underlying investigation was negative, we did not instruct U.S Customs 
and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of entries of CTL 
plate from Korea.\4\ The Department's final determination was 
affirmative, and therefore, we directed CBP to suspend liquidation.\5\ 
Therefore, we will direct CBP to assess, upon further instruction by 
the Department, countervailing duties on unliquidated entries of CTL 
plate entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
April 4, 2017, the date on which the Department published its Final 
Determination in the Federal Register.
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    \4\ See Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-to-Length Plate from 
the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Negative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Alignment of Final Determination with Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination, 81 FR 63168 (September 14, 2016) and 
accompanying Preliminary Determination Memorandum.
    \5\ See Final Determination, 82 FR at 16342.
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 706 of the Act, we will instruct CBP to 
continue to suspend liquidation on all relevant entries of CTL plate 
from Korea, effective on the date of publication of the Department's 
notice of final determination in the Federal Register. We will also 
direct CBP to assess, upon further instruction by the Department, 
pursuant to 706(a)(1) of the Act, countervailing duties for each entry 
of the subject merchandise in an amount based on the net 
countervailable subsidy rates for the subject merchandise.
    We will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the 
amounts indicated below. CBP will require, at the same time as 
importers would normally deposit estimated duties on this subject 
merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the subsidy rates listed below. 
These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until 
further notice. The ``all-others'' rate applies to all producers or 
exporters not specifically listed, as appropriate.

Subsidy Rates

    The final subsidy rates are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                    Producer/exporter                        (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
POSCO...................................................            4.31
All Others..............................................            4.31
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the CVD order with respect to CTL plate 
from Korea pursuant to section 706(a) of the Act. Interested parties 
may find a list of CVD orders currently in effect at http://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    This order is issued and published in accordance with section 
706(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: May 22, 2017.
Gary Taverman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain carbon 
and alloy steel hot-rolled or forged flat plate products not in 
coils, whether or not painted, varnished, or coated with plastics or 
other non-metallic substances (cut-to-length plate). Subject 
merchandise includes plate that is produced by being cut-to-length 
from coils or from other discrete length plate and plate that is 
rolled or forged into a discrete length. The products covered 
include (1) Universal mill plates (i.e., flat-rolled products rolled 
on four faces or in a closed box pass, of a width exceeding 150 mm 
but not exceeding 1250 mm, and of a thickness of not less than 4 mm, 
which are not in coils and without patterns in relief), and (2) hot-
rolled or forged flat steel products of a thickness of 4.75 mm or 
more and of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice 
the thickness, and which are not in coils, whether or not with 
patterns in relief. The covered products described above may be 
rectangular, square, circular or other shapes and include products 
of either rectangular or non-rectangular cross-section where such 
non-rectangular cross-section is achieved subsequent to the rolling 
process, i.e., products which have been ``worked after rolling'' 
(e.g., products which have been beveled or rounded at the edges).
    For purposes of the width and thickness requirements referenced 
above, the following rules apply:
    (1) Except where otherwise stated where the nominal and actual 
thickness or width measurements vary, a product from a given subject 
country is within the scope if application of either the nominal or 
actual measurement would place it within the scope based on the 
definitions set forth above unless the product is already covered by 
an order existing on that specific country (i.e., Certain Hot-Rolled 
Steel Flat Products from Brazil and the Republic of Korea: Amended 
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Orders, 81 FR 67960 (October 
3, 2016)); and
    (2) where the width and thickness vary for a specific product 
(e.g., the thickness of certain products with non-rectangular cross-
section, the width of certain products with non-rectangular shape, 
etc.), the measurement at its greatest width or thickness applies.
    Steel products included in the scope of this investigation are 
products in which: (1) Iron predominates, by weight, over each of 
the other contained elements; and (2) the carbon content is 2 
percent or less by weight.
    Subject merchandise includes cut-to-length plate that has been 
further processed in the subject country or a third country, 
including but not limited to pickling, oiling, levelling, annealing, 
tempering, temper rolling, skin passing, painting, varnishing, 
trimming, cutting, punching, beveling, and/or slitting, or any other 
processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the 
scope of the investigation if performed in the country of 
manufacture of the cut-to-length plate.
    All products that meet the written physical description, are 
within the scope of this investigation unless specifically excluded 
or covered by the scope of an existing order. The following products 
are outside of, and/or specifically excluded from, the scope of this 
investigation:
    (1) Products clad, plated, or coated with metal, whether or not 
painted, varnished or

[[Page 24105]]

coated with plastic or other non-metallic substances;
    (2) military grade armor plate certified to one of the following 
specifications or to a specification that references and 
incorporates one of the following specifications:

 MIL-A-12560,
 MIL-DTL-12560H,
 MIL-DTL-12560J,
 MIL-DTL-12560K,
 MIL-DTL-32332,
 MIL-A-46100D,
 MIL-DTL-46100-E,
 MIL-46177C,
 MIL-S-16216K Grade HY80,
 MIL-S-16216K Grade HY100,
 MIL-S-24645A HSLA-80;
 MIL-S-24645A HSLA-100,
 T9074-BD-GIB-010/0300 Grade HY80,
 T9074-BD-GIB-010/0300 Grade HY100,
 T9074-BD-GIB-010/0300 Grade HSLA80,
 T9074-BD-GIB-010/0300 Grade HSLA100, and
 T9074-BD-GIB-010/0300 Mod. Grade HSLA115,

except that any cut-to-length plate certified to one of the above 
specifications, or to a military grade armor specification that 
references and incorporates one of the above specifications, will 
not be excluded from the scope if it is also dual- or multiple-
certified to any other non-armor specification that otherwise would 
fall within the scope of this investigation;
    (3) stainless steel plate, containing 10.5 percent or more of 
chromium by weight and not more than 1.2 percent of carbon by 
weight;
    (4) CTL plate meeting the requirements of ASTM A-829, Grade E 
4340 that are over 305 mm in actual thickness;
    (5) Alloy forged and rolled CTL plate greater than or equal to 
152.4 mm in actual thickness meeting each of the following 
requirements:
    (a) Electric furnace melted, ladle refined & vacuum degassed and 
having a chemical composition (expressed in weight percentages):

 Carbon 0.23-0.28,
 Silicon 0.05-0.20,
 Manganese 1.20-1.60,
 Nickel not greater than 1.0,
 Sulfur not greater than 0.007,
 Phosphorus not greater than 0.020,
 Chromium 1.0-2.5,
 Molybdenum 0.35-0.80,
 Boron 0.002-0.004,
 Oxygen not greater than 20 ppm,
 Hydrogen not greater than 2 ppm, and
 Nitrogen not greater than 60 ppm;

    (b) With a Brinell hardness measured in all parts of the product 
including mid thickness falling within one of the following ranges:

(i) 270-300 HBW,
(ii) 290-320 HBW, or
(iii) 320-350HBW;

    (c) Having cleanliness in accordance with ASTM E45 method A 
(Thin and Heavy): A not exceeding 1.5, B not exceeding 1.0, C not 
exceeding 0.5, D not exceeding 1.5; and
    (d) Conforming to ASTM A578-S9 ultrasonic testing requirements 
with acceptance criteria 2 mm flat bottom hole;
    (6) Alloy forged and rolled steel CTL plate over 407 mm in 
actual thickness and meeting the following requirements:
    (a) Made from Electric Arc Furnace melted, Ladle refined & 
vacuum degassed, alloy steel with the following chemical composition 
(expressed in weight percentages):

 Carbon 0.23-0.28,
 Silicon 0.05-0.15,
 Manganese 1.20-1.50,
 Nickel not greater than 0.4,
 Sulfur not greater than 0.010,
 Phosphorus not greater than 0.020,
 Chromium 1.20-1.50,
 Molybdenum 0.35-0.55,
 Boron 0.002-0.004,
 Oxygen not greater than 20 ppm,
 Hydrogen not greater than 2 ppm, and
 Nitrogen not greater than 60 ppm;

    (b) Having cleanliness in accordance with ASTM E45 method A 
(Thin and Heavy): A not exceeding 1.5, B not exceeding 1.5, C not 
exceeding 1.0, D not exceeding 1.5;
    (c) Having the following mechanical properties:
    (i) With a Brinell hardness not more than 237 HBW measured in 
all parts of the product including mid thickness; and having a Yield 
Strength of 75ksi min and UTS 95ksi or more, Elongation of 18% or 
more and Reduction of area 35% or more; having charpy V at -75 
degrees F in the longitudinal direction equal or greater than 15 ft. 
lbs (single value) and equal or greater than 20 ft. lbs (average of 
3 specimens) and conforming to the requirements of NACE MR01-75; or
    (ii) With a Brinell hardness not less than 240 HBW measured in 
all parts of the product including mid thickness; and having a Yield 
Strength of 90 ksi min and UTS 110 ksi or more, Elongation of 15% or 
more and Reduction of area 30% or more; having charpy V at -40 
degrees F in the longitudinal direction equal or greater than 21 ft. 
lbs (single value) and equal or greater than 31 ft. lbs (average of 
3 specimens);
    (d) Conforming to ASTM A578-S9 ultrasonic testing requirements 
with acceptance criteria 3.2 mm flat bottom hole; and
    (e) Conforming to magnetic particle inspection in accordance 
with AMS 2301;
    (7) Alloy forged and rolled steel CTL plate over 407 mm in 
actual thickness and meeting the following requirements:
    (a) Made from Electric Arc Furnace melted, ladle refined & 
vacuum degassed, alloy steel with the following chemical composition 
(expressed in weight percentages):

 Carbon 0.25-0.30,
 Silicon not greater than 0.25,
 Manganese not greater than 0.50,
 Nickel 3.0-3.5,
 Sulfur not greater than 0.010,
 Phosphorus not greater than 0.020,
 Chromium 1.0-1.5,
 Molybdenum 0.6-0.9,
 Vanadium 0.08 to 0.12
 Boron 0.002-0.004,
 Oxygen not greater than 20 ppm,
 Hydrogen not greater than 2 ppm, and
 Nitrogen not greater than 60 ppm.

    (b) Having cleanliness in accordance with ASTM E45 method A 
(Thin and Heavy): A not exceeding 1.0(t) and 0.5(h), B not exceeding 
1.5(t) and 1.0(h), C not exceeding 1.0(t) and 0.5(h), and D not 
exceeding 1.5(t) and 1.0(h);
    (c) Having the following mechanical properties: A Brinell 
hardness not less than 350 HBW measured in all parts of the product 
including mid thickness; and having a Yield Strength of 145ksi or 
more and UTS 160ksi or more, Elongation of 15% or more and Reduction 
of area 35% or more; having charpy V at -40 degrees F in the 
transverse direction equal or greater than 20 ft. lbs (single value) 
and equal or greater than 25 ft. lbs (average of 3 specimens);
    (d) Conforming to ASTM A578-S9 ultrasonic testing requirements 
with acceptance criteria 3.2 mm flat bottom hole; and
    (e) Conforming to magnetic particle inspection in accordance 
with AMS 2301.
    At the time of the filing of the petition, there was an existing 
countervailing duty order on certain cut-to-length carbon-quality 
steel plate from Korea. See Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate From 
the Republic of Korea, 64 FR 73,176 (Dep't Commerce Dec. 29, 1999), 
as amended, 65 FR 6,587 (Dep't Commerce Feb. 10, 2000) (1999 Korea 
CVD Order). The scope of the countervailing duty investigation with 
regard to cut-to-length plate from Korea covers only (1) subject 
cut-to-length plate not within the physical description of cut-to-
length carbon quality steel plate in the 1999 Korea CVD Order 
regardless of producer or exporter, and (2) cut-to-length plate 
produced and/or exported by those companies that were excluded or 
revoked from the 1999 Korea CVD Order as of April 8, 2016. The only 
revoked or excluded company is Pohang Iron and Steel Company, also 
known as POSCO.
    The products subject to the investigation are currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under item numbers: 7208.40.3030, 7208.40.3060, 
7208.51.0030, 7208.51.0045, 7208.51.0060, 7208.52.0000, 
7211.13.0000, 7211.14.0030, 7211.14.0045, 7225.40.1110, 
7225.40.1180, 7225.40.3005, 7225.40.3050, 7226.20.0000, and 
7226.91.5000.
    The products subject to the investigation may also enter under 
the following HTSUS item numbers: 7208.40.6060, 7208.53.0000, 
7208.90.0000, 7210.70.3000, 7210.90.9000, 7211.19.1500, 
7211.19.2000, 7211.19.4500, 7211.19.6000, 7211.19.7590, 
7211.90.0000, 7212.40.1000, 7212.40.5000, 7212.50.0000, 
7214.10.0000, 7214.30.0010, 7214.30.0080, 7214.91.0015, 
7214.91.0060, 7214.91.0090, 7225.11.0000, 7225.19.0000, 
7225.40.5110, 7225.40.5130, 7225.40.5160, 7225.40.7000, 
7225.99.0010, 7225.99.0090, 7226.11.1000, 7226.11.9060, 
7226.19.1000, 7226.19.9000, 7226.91.0500, 7226.91.1530, 
7226.91.1560, 7226.91.2530, 7226.91.2560, 7226.91.7000, 
7226.91.8000, and 7226.99.0180.
    The HTSUS subheadings above are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of the 
investigation is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2017-10756 Filed 5-24-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P