Commerce set countervailing duty deposits on Korean steel plate at 1.89% for Dongkuk and 1.39% for Hyundai Steel

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 07:54:52 -0500

The Commerce Department set new countervailing duty rates on cut-to-length steel plate from South Korea for the two Korean producers it reviewed: 1.89% for Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd. and 1.39% for Hyundai Steel Company. A countervailing duty is an extra duty on imports that Commerce finds were subsidized by a foreign government, set as a percentage of the import’s value. The rates come from Commerce’s annual review of 2024 shipments, published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2026. Commerce says it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits at these rates on plate entered on or after that date. Dongkuk’s rate is down from 2.21% in the review of 2023, and Hyundai Steel’s is up from 1.31%.

Cut-to-length plate, as the order defines it, is mostly hot-rolled flat steel 4.75 mm thick or more, sold in flat pieces rather than coils. It is the stock a fabricator burns, saws or shears into base plates, gussets, brackets and weldments.

The new rates

Countervailing duty rates on cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate from South Korea, percent of value. The 2024 review rates set cash deposits on entries from November 5, 2026.
Producer or exporter	2023 review (%)	2024 review (%)	Change (points)
Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. Ltd.	2.21	1.89	-0.32
Hyundai Steel Company	1.31	1.39	0.08
All others (2000 investigation rate)	3.26	3.26	0.00

Source: federalregister.gov

Plate from any other Korean producer or exporter keeps the all-others rate of 3.26%, the rate set in the original investigation behind the February 2000 order. Where a producer and an exporter each have their own rate and the two differ, the notice says Customs collects the higher one. A rate under 0.50% is de minimis, the legal term for too small to count, and draws no deposit.

Commerce’s notice lists the questions the companies and other parties argued over. They include whether Korea’s government supplied electricity to the mills for less than adequate pay, whether the emissions permits it provides under the Korea Emissions Trading System count as a subsidy, and whether a carbon-neutral facilities grant and certain research grants are countervailable. Commerce made no changes to its calculations for either company between the May preliminary results and the final ones.

Eight years of rates

Subsidy rates on Korean plate rose above 1% from the 2021 review on

Countervailing duty rates on cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate from South Korea by review year, percent of value

Dongkuk Steel Mill (%)
Hyundai Steel (%)

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, final results of each annual administrative review. Rates under 0.50% are de minimis and draw no deposit. Source: federalregister.gov

From 2017 through 2020, the rates for both mills were small. Five of the eight results in those years were de minimis, and the highest was 0.56% for 2019. The review of 2021 put both companies at 1.08%. Hyundai Steel reached 2.21% for 2022 and Dongkuk reached 2.21% for 2023. Each review covers a calendar year, and the final results for 2024 came 22 months after that year ended.

Countervailing duty rates on cut-to-length carbon-quality plate from South Korea by review year, percent of value, with the date Commerce published the final results.
Review year	Dongkuk Steel Mill (%)	Hyundai Steel (%)	Results published
2017	0.25 (de minimis)	0.44 (de minimis)	2019-08-19
2018	0.28 (de minimis)	0.50	2020-12-28
2019	0.56	0.56	2022-01-03
2020	0.28 (de minimis)	0.25 (de minimis)	2022-09-01
2021	1.08	1.08	2023-09-07
2022	2.01	2.21	2024-09-11
2023	2.21	1.31	2026-02-20
2024	1.89	1.39	2026-11-05

Source: federalregister.gov

Korea’s place in U.S. plate imports

South Korea is the largest foreign source of the plate that enters under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 7208.51 and 7208.52, flat-rolled steel not in coils and 4.75 mm or thicker. Those two subheadings are among those Commerce lists for the order. From January through August 2026, the United States imported 86,105 metric tons from Korea under them, according to Census Bureau trade data, 49.8% of the 172,996 tons from all countries. Canada supplied 31.7% and Brazil 9.6%.

Plate imports from Korea fell to 128,900 tons in 2025 from 196,600 tons in 2024

U.S. general imports of hot-rolled flat steel, not in coils, 4.75 mm or thicker (HTS 7208.51 and 7208.52), thousand metric tons, by year

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Source: api.census.gov

Imports from Korea held between 187,600 and 204,800 tons a year from 2017 through 2024, except for 67,000 tons in 2020. They fell 34.4% in 2025, the year the Section 232 duty on steel rose to 50%. In the first eight months of 2026, imports from Korea were 25.3% below the same months of 2025, and imports from all countries were 27.6% below.

U.S. general imports of plate under HTS 7208.51 and 7208.52, January to August of each year, metric tons and customs value.
January to August	From South Korea (metric tons)	From all countries (metric tons)	South Korea share (%)	From South Korea ($ million)	From all countries ($ million)
2024	163,060	326,348	50.0%	173.75	342.95
2025	115,243	238,948	48.2%	97.51	193.92
2026	86,105	172,996	49.8%	75.94	141.19

Source: api.census.gov

The customs value of Korean plate, which is the price before U.S. duties, freight and insurance, averaged $837 a metric ton in 2025 and $882 from January through August 2026, against $1,373 in 2022.

Largest sources of U.S. plate imports under HTS 7208.51 and 7208.52, January to August 2026.
Country	January to August 2026 (metric tons)	Share of total (%)	Customs value ($ million)
South Korea	86,105	49.8%	75.94
Canada	54,886	31.7%	42.18
Brazil	16,654	9.6%	11.03
Malaysia	5,299	3.1%	3.13
Australia	4,671	2.7%	2.79
Germany	2,418	1.4%	2.98
France	1,036	0.6%	1.28
China	834	0.5%	0.52
All countries	172,996	100.0%	141.19

Source: api.census.gov

Domestic plate prices

The Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index for hot rolled steel bars, plates and structural shapes stood at 319.693 in September 2026 (June 1982 = 100). A producer price index tracks the prices U.S. producers receive. The index rose 3.0% from August and 15.0% from September 2025, and it is the highest since September 2022. BLS does not seasonally adjust this series, and it no longer publishes a separate index for carbon plate alone.

The hot rolled bar, plate and shapes index rose 15.0% in the year to September 2026

Producer price index for hot rolled steel bars, plates and structural shapes (WPU101704), June 1982 = 100, not seasonally adjusted, monthly

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. June through September 2026 are preliminary. Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

The separate 2017 plate order

Korean plate also falls under a second set of orders from 2017, on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate. On November 6, Commerce published an amended 2021 subsidy rate of 0.80% for POSCO Co., Ltd. under that order, down from 0.87%, after the U.S. Court of International Trade sustained the recalculation on October 27. The notice says POSCO’s current cash deposit rate stays as it is, because a later review has already replaced the 2021 rate. The court ruling is open to appeal.

How the duties stack

The countervailing duty order on Korean plate and the Section 232 steel duty, by date of publication or effect.
Date	Event
2000-02-10	Commerce publishes antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cut-to-length carbon-quality plate from Korea and other countries
2023-08-28	Orders on Korea continued after the fourth five-year review
2025-06-04	Section 232 duty on steel rises to 50% from 25%
2026-02-20	Final results of the 2023 subsidy review: Dongkuk 2.21% and Hyundai Steel 1.31%
2026-04-06	Proclamation 11021 applies the Section 232 duty to the full customs value
2026-05-13	Preliminary results of the 2024 subsidy review
2026-10-27	Court of International Trade sustains the recalculated 2021 rate for POSCO under the separate 2017 plate order
2026-11-05	Final results of the 2024 subsidy review: Dongkuk 1.89% and Hyundai Steel 1.39%
2028-08-28	Fifth anniversary of the 2023 continuation; Commerce intends to open the next five-year review at least 30 days before

Source: federalregister.gov

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 lets the president adjust imports that threaten national security. Proclamation 10947 raised the Section 232 duty on steel to 50% from 25% from June 4, 2025. Proclamation 11021 set the rate at 50% for steel articles listed in its Annex I-A from April 6, 2026, with lower rates for some United Kingdom steel, and applied the duty to the full customs value. A shipment of Korean plate can owe the Section 232 duty, the countervailing duty deposit and the deposit under the antidumping order that the 2023 notice also continued. The orders continue until a five-year review ends them. In the 2023 continuation notice, Commerce said it intends to open the next review no later than 30 days before the fifth anniversary of the International Trade Commission’s 2023 determination, which the commission published on August 28, 2023.

What to ask on a plate quote

Ask the supplier for the mill and country of origin of the plate, and where it was melted and poured. Plate rolled by Dongkuk or Hyundai Steel carries its own deposit rate, and other Korean producers carry 3.26%.
Ask whether the price includes the Section 232 duty and any antidumping or countervailing duty deposits, and which company is the importer of record, since that company owes them.
If you import plate yourself, a customs broker can confirm the deposit rate in force for a given producer and exporter once Commerce’s instructions reach Customs, and a trade attorney can advise on scope and on taking part in a review.

Caveats

A cash deposit is an estimate. The final duty on an entry is set by a later review if anyone requests one, so a deposit paid now can be refunded in part or raised. The 2024 rates measure subsidies Korean mills received in 2024. The order’s scope excludes some grades, such as abrasion-resistant steels and products made to ASTM A710 and A736, and Commerce’s written description decides coverage.

The Census figures are general imports under two subheadings, as published when checked on November 6, 2026, and can be revised. Those subheadings include plate outside the order, such as alloy grades and excluded products, and the order reaches other subheadings too. The producer price index for June through September 2026 is preliminary, and BLS can revise it for four months after first publication. An index and a customs value leave out the service center’s markup, cutting, freight and surcharges, so neither says much about the price of a single plate order.

Countervailing duties | Shark Metals

Commerce set countervailing duty deposits on Korean steel plate at 1.89% for Dongkuk and 1.39% for Hyundai Steel

The new rates

Eight years of rates

Korea’s place in U.S. plate imports

Domestic plate prices

The separate 2017 plate order

How the duties stack

What to ask on a plate quote

Caveats