Borusan Mannesmann Pipe US to gain S.232 duties refund on imports from Turkey

Oct-19-2020 Bursa — Borusan Mannesmann Pipe US is to receive a refund of the US Section 232 tariffs paid on some of its imports of unfinished oil pipes from Turkey, under an agreement to settle a company lawsuit in the US Court of International Trade (CIT), Ali Okyay, vice president of Turkey's Borusan Mannesmann, told S&P Global Platts Oct. 19.

The executive didn't immediately give further details.

Turkey's largest steel pipe producer Borusan Mannesmann (BM) demanded a $14 million refund based on the CIT's July 14 ruling that US President Donald Trump's decision to impose additional duties on imports of Turkish steel under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 was in violation of the law, as Platts has reported.

Trump raised tariffs on imports of Turkish steel from 25% to 50% in August 2018 under Section 232 law, amid increased political tension between the countries over Turkey's detention of a US religious leader. Turkey's tariff rate on steel was later dropped back to 25% in May 2019, amid some improvement in relations between the countries.

The US took as much as 15% of Turkey's total steel exports in 2017, but its share slumped as low as 3% in 2019, due to the Section 232 action and additional duties against Turkish steel.

Highlighting that additional tariffs were imposed on steel imports from Turkey alone during the nine-month period Aug.2018 to May 2019, Borusan said the company should receive a $14 million refund from US customs.

Ugur Dalbeler, vice president of the Turkish Steel Exporters' Association (CIB) also previously told S&P Global Platts that CIB will also start the necessary proceedings for to gain a rebate of the additional duties paid, put at around $100 million industry-wide.

BM's Turkish mill capacity is 750,000 mt/year of longitudinal welded pipe and 300,000 mt/year of spiral welded pipe. Capacity for cold-drawn special pipe at its Vobarno plant in Italy is 28,000 mt/year.

The company's US electric-resistance welded pipe mill in Baytown, Texas, has a capacity of 300,000 mt/year.