United States Court of International Trade

Remand Ordered in Antidumping Duty Investigation Results of CORE from Korea

In Hyundai Steel Co. v. United Sates et al., Slip Op. 18-2, Court No. 16-161 (published January 10, 2018), the Court reviewed the final results in an antidumping investigation involving Corrision-Resistant Steel Products (“CORE”) from Korea.  This action concerns Commerce’s treatment, for computation of the United States sale price, of Hyundai’s further manufactured products, other than completed automobiles, including skelp, sheets or blanks (“SSBs”), tailorwelded blanks (“TWBs”), and after-market auto parts. To manufacture the latter two product categories, Hyundai first sold CORE to its U.S. subsidiary, Hyundai Steel America, Inc. (“HSA”), in coil form. HSA then sold the imported CORE: (1) in unaltered form; (2) in slightly further manufactured form, e.g., as SSBs; or (3) as TWBs. HSA sold the foregoing products to both affiliated and unaffiliated vendors that performed additional further processing before selling the ultimate product to an affiliated automobile manufacturer. While Commerce’s findings were generally supported by substantial evidence, calculations regarding Hyundai’s SSB data were remanded.

Commerce failed to provide adequate notice of deficiency when it came to discrepancies in Hyundai’s SSB data, and did not provide an opportunity for Hyundai to remedy the deficiencies.  Moreover, Commerce’s Third Supplemental Questionnaire precluded Hyundai from submitting “any new or revised sales, cost, or further manufacturing databases in response.” Thus, Hyundai may have been precluded from moving for exceptional treatment after the Preliminary Determination to submit more information. Accordingly, this matter was remanded for Commerce to address Hyundai’s SSB cost data, and to recalculate the overall margin as necessary.