The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rods from five countries including Korea, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.K.

Earlier, it said it had determined that the U.S. industry is "materially injured" by these imports.

Wire rods -- an intermediate steel product -- manufactured by POSCO and other Korean steelmakers will be subject to a 41.1 percent import duty.

This decision comes less than a day after Korea was permanently exempted from the U.S.' 25-percent steel tariffs.

Korea exported US$45.6 million of wire rods to the U.S. in 2016, the highest among the five countries to face the duties.

Industry insiders say although the anti-dumping measures will not greatly affect Korea's overall exports to the U.S., they could be a major problem for some small steelmakers.