Commerce lowers import duties on South Korean PLT tires

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Commerce has reduced the value of elevated antidumping duties imposed in 2021 on passenger and light truck tires imported by South Korea's three major tire makers.

The decision, disclosed in a Feb. 5 filing in the Federal Register, affects Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd., Kumho Tire Co. Inc. and Nexen Tire Corp.

In a review of the duties covering an 18-month period—Jan. 6, 2021, through June 30, 2022—Commerce confirmed that the three Korean companies sold the subject merchandise in the U.S. at prices below normal value but a rates lower than determined originally.

As a result, the antidumping duties are being lowered thus:

• Hankook Tire — to 6.3 percent from 27.05 percent;
• Kumho Tire — to 5.4 percent from 21.74 percent; and
• Nexen Tire — to 4.29 percent from 14.72 percent.

The revisions are the result of a Commerce Department review of the duties that the agency agreed to carry out in September 2022. The results of that investigation were supposed to have been released by July 2023 but Commerce later extended the deadline.

The original investigation—done in response to a petition from the United Steelworkers (USW) in May 2020—covered a period from April 1, 2019, through March 31, 2020.

In determining the new rates, Commerce reviewed and set specific rates for Hankook and Nexen, but set the rate for Kumho based on a weighted formula using the rates it determined for Hankook and Nexen.

After falling initially in 2021 versus 2020 after the imposition of the elevated duties, imports of passenger and light truck tires from South Korea rebounded in 2022 before falling again this year.

In 2021, passenger tire imports from South Korea fell 14.1 percent to 12.8 million units before climbing 16.6 percent in 2022 to 14.9 million units. Through the first nine months of 2023, imports dropped 20.2 percent.

On the light-truck tire side, imports in 2021 from Korea fell 3.7 percent to 1.98 million units before recovering last year to 2.12 million units, a gain of 7.3 percent over 2021. Through the first nine months of 2023, imports fell 25.2 percent.

Commerce said it intends to alert the Customs and Border Patrol—which oversees collection of import duties—of the new duties at least 35 days from Feb. 5 (the date of publication of the results of the review in the Federal Register).

This revision follows by just a few weeks the Commerce Department's decision to lower antidumping duties on consumer tires from Thailand—in place since June 2021—after a review requested by two Thai tire producers.

It also comes at a time when the International Trade Commission (ITC) is evaluating whether certain manufacturers based in Thailand are selling truck/bus tires in the U.S. at less than fair valuation and thus might be subject to import duties.

A preliminary determination by the Commerce Department on such duties is not expected before late March 2024, the ITC said Nov. 30.