Quota already filled for washer parts exports to U.S.

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Quota already filled for washer parts exports to U.S.

Published: 29 Jul. 2018, 18:35

Korean washer parts exported to the United States effectively filled their annual export quota and will be subject to 50 percent tariffs for the rest of 2018, official data showed Sunday.

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Korean companies had shipped parts for 49,963 washers as of last Monday, which is 99.93 percent of the 50,000 washing machines it can ship without paying duties, as outlined by Washington’s safeguard measures.

Under the safeguard action that took effect on Feb. 7, the United States said it will levy stiff tariffs on parts used to make the home appliance. Complete washers exceeding 1.2 million units in the first year of the safeguard going into effect will have to pay the same level of high import duties.

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which ship washers and parts to the key North American market, had earlier asked for an exception on parts, but the request was turned down.

Besides parts, the CBP findings showed Korean companies exhausted 43.7 percent of its quota for complete washers by selling 524,408 machines so far this year.

The lower number is due to Samsung making the appliance at its North Carolina plant starting in January. Korea was allocated 1.2 million complete washers in the first years of the safeguard.

In regard to steel products that are also under restrictions, the official data showed that as of June 28, Asia’s fourth-largest economy shipped just under 1.11 million tons out of a quota of 2.63 million tons.

For the January-June period it used up 42.2 percent of its allocated total.

It said of these, local mills used up 96.7 percent of the quota in oil country tubular goods (OCTG) that are in high demand.

OCTG is a product used primarily by the oil and gas industries in drilling and extraction operations for lining the casing of oil wells, as well as for the tubing that delivers oil and gas to the surface.

The Seoul government said it is still engaged in talks with Washington with the goal of getting an exemption on certain steel products that are not being made in the North American country, stressing that Korean steel poses no security threat.

Yonhap