The US may eliminate the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled coil exports from Japan as the Department of Commerce found examined companies from the country did not make sales in the US at less than normal value during a period of review, according to a preliminary determination published Wednesday.

Commerce found that Nippon Steel and Tokyo Steel did not make sales in the US below normal value during the 2017 calendar year. As a result, those companies and other producers and exporters from Japan were assigned a preliminary dumping margin of zero.

If finalized, this would be down from current final antidumping duties of 2.06%-7.64%. These rates were set in June 2019 following an earlier review.

Meanwhile in a second preliminary administrative review decision notice published Wednesday, Commerce said Turkey's Colakoglu sold HRC in the US at prices below normal value during the period spanning October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018.

As a result, Colakoglu and other Turkish HRC producers were assigned a preliminary weighted-average dumping margin of 2.55%, up from a current rate of zero assigned in June 2019 in an earlier review.

Turkey's Erdemir Group was found to have made no shipments during the review period.

-- Justine Coyne