Processors in NAICS 3312 buy steel rather than produce it, so they absorb Section 232 tariff costs embedded in their input prices without the ability to file as a domestic producer in exclusion proceedings. They may, however, petition for product-specific exclusions on the imported steel substrate they purchase, and some have sought relief through downstream product exclusion requests filed with the Department of Commerce.

The 'purchased steel' designation is a NAICS production-process distinction, not a customs classification criterion. For HTS entry purposes, the finished product's form, alloy content, and dimensions govern classification — not whether the producing facility bought its steel feedstock. Trade professionals should not conflate NAICS industry codes with HTS tariff schedule headings when preparing entry documentation.