The United States Department of Commerce on Friday has issued final anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to 61 percent on hot-rolled steel sheets produced by South Korean steelmakers Posco Co. and Hyundai Steel Co., raising concerns over declining exports of Korean steel. Every year, Korean steelmakers export in between $500 million and $700 million worth of hot-rolled steel flats to the U.S.

According to multiple foreign media reports on Saturday, the U.S. commerce department has decided to impose 60.93 percent duties on Posco, Korea’s top exporter of hot-rolled steel sheets, including 3.89 percent anti-dumping duties and 57.04 percent anti-subsidy duties. Hyundai Steel has also been slapped with 13.38 percent duties including 9.49 percent anti-dumping and 3.89 percent anti-subsidy duties.

Now that the U.S. commerce department has made a final decision on the duty rates following preliminary determinations earlier on in the year, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is expected to give a final judgement on the decision whether U.S. steelmakers that had raised complaints in 2014 have been affected by anti-dumping and various subsidy support. The USITC is due to review cases from three years ago and decide by late September whether Korean hot-rolled steel sheets had been unfairly traded in the U.S.

Concerns are rising that Posco will most likely be slapped with over 60 percent duties and exports of hot-rolled steel sheets will practically be blocked, considering that the USITC has generally been in favor of domestic producers and will most likely approve the U.S. commerce department’s decision, especially amid latest policy environment supporting trade protectionism.

An unnamed trade authority official in Korea said Posco has made an appeal to the U.S. Department of Commerce by providing explanations, but they have all been disapproved.

The latest decision by the U.S. commerce department comes after up to 65 percent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties were levied on cold-rolled steel plates imported from Korea. Posco was slapped with 64.58 percent duties while Hyundai Steel with 38.24 percent. The decision was of less shock to Korea’s steel industry as export volume of cold-rolled steel plates to the U.S. is not that high. Hot-rolled steel sheets, however, are Korean steelmakers’ major export item to the U.S., raising an alert over declining exports.

The latest duties that have been set on hot-rolled steel plates produced by Korean steelmakers are relatively higher than those of other countries, too. On Friday, Brazilian steelmakers were hit with anti-dumping duties between 33.14 percent and 34.28 percent and anti-subsidy duties between 11.09 percent and 11.3 percent. British steelmakers were slapped with 33.06 percent anti-dumping duty, Australian steelmakers with 29.37 percent anti-dumping duty, Japanese steelmakers with between 4.99 percent and 7.5 percent anti-dumping duty, and Turkey steelmakers with between 3.66 percent and 7.15 percent anti-dumping and 6.01 percent anti-subsidy duties.

The relatively higher duties on Korean hot-rolled steel plates are expected to place an extra tariff burden of up to 300 billion won ($268.8 million) every year.

Korean steelmakers including Posco have decided to take legal actions against the U.S. government’s final decision to impose high duties on hot-rolled steel sheets. An unnamed official from Posco said on Sunday that it plans to look into whether it can request investigation into the unfair ruling and take legal actions accordingly by filing an administrative litigation or a petition to the World Trade Organization. Hyundai Steel is also considering taking various countermeasures against the latest ruling.

By Hwang In-hyuk and Park Yong-beom

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