The domestic wire rod industry has submitted a request to the US Department of Commerce (Commerce) to exclude grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod from the antidumping (AD) orders on carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Korea and the United Kingdom.  One other country which also supplies this product to the US, Belarus, was not included in the request.  The request is contained in what is known as a request for a “changed circumstances” review by Commerce.  Commerce will normally accommodate a changed circumstances request if it is supported by domestic producers which account for “substantially all” of the production of the merchandise subject to the orders in question.

The requesters for the Changed Circumstances Review are Charter Steel, Keystone Consolidated Industries Inc., Nucor, (original petitioners) Optimus Steel LLC (original petitioner Gerdau), and two unnamed rod producers.  The requesters are trying to accelerate the process by asking Commerce to both initiate the review and announce an affirmative preliminary determination on the same day.  If no one objects to the changed circumstances request, Commerce can issue a final determination within 45 days after it initiates the review.

The domestic rod mills have asked that the exclusion be retroactive to May 21, 2018, the date on which the AD orders were issued against Korea and the United Kingdom.  This request does not affect other rod products covered by the AD orders on Korea and the United Kingdom.

The request asks that the following language be added to the scope of the AD orders on wire rod from Korea and the United Kingdom:

• Excluded from the scope of the antidumping duty orders from Korea and the United Kingdom are grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod to be used in the production of tire cord wire. Grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod refers to wire rod with not less than 0.78 percent of carbon and includes but is not limited to other high carbon grades of wire rod such as Grade 1078, 1080, 1085, 1086, 1090, and 1092.
• Grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality rod is defined as: (i) Grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod measuring not more than 6.0 mm in cross-sectional diameter; (ii) with an average partial decarburization of no more than 70 microns in depth (maximum individual 200 microns); (iii) having no non-deformable inclusions greater than 20 microns and no deformable inclusions greater than 35 microns; (iv) having a carbon segregation per heat average of 3.0 or better; (v) having a surface quality with no surface defects of a length greater than 0.15 mm; (vi) capable of being drawn to a diameter of 0.405 mm or less, and (vii) containing by weight the following elements in the proportions shown: (1) 0.78 percent or more of carbon, (2) less than 0.01 percent of aluminum, (3) 0.040 percent or less, in the aggregate, of phosphorus and sulfur, (4) 0.006 percent or less of nitrogen, (5) not more than 0.6 percent silicon; and (6) not more than 0.55 percent in the aggregate, of copper, nickel, and chromium. For purposes of the grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod, an inclusion will be considered to be deformable if its ratio of length (measured along the axis-that is, the direction of rolling-of the rod) over thickness (measured on the same inclusion in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the rod) is equal to or greater than three.  The size of an inclusion for purposes of the 20 microns and 35 microns limitations is the measurement of the largest dimension observed on a longitudinal section measured in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the rod.

The designation of the products as “tire cord quality” indicates the acceptability of the product for use in the production of tire cord applications which require that the tire cord wire rod be drawn into wire with a diameter of 0.405 mm or less.  These quality designations are presumed to indicate that these products are being used in tire cord applications, and such merchandise intended for the tire cord applications is not included in the scope.  Importers of tire cord quality wire rod will attach, as a condition of entry, a certification of end use that certifies that the Grade 1078 and above tire cord quality wire rod will be used only in the production of tire cord wire.

The proposed scope language includes a requirement that importers submit an end-use certification at the time of entry which “must be based on actual knowledge of end-use by the importer, such as when the importer of record is also the end-user.  Where the importer of record is not the end-user, the importer must provide written notice of the end-use requirement to the end-user and an official of the end-user must also sign a copy of the certification filed with US Customs.”  Commerce does not normally favor end-use certifications, so it will be interesting to see how Commerce treats this request from the domestic rod mills.