Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 7 questioned both exporter AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke and the U.S. regarding the exporter's proposed quality code for sour service pressure vessel plate and the Commerce Department's use of Dillinger's sales price as the cost of production for non-prime steel plate. Judges Jimmie Reyna, Timothy Dyk and Alan Lourie's questions regarding the non-prime plate centered on whether the issue was foreclosed by the CAFC's previous holding in Dillinger France v. U.S. (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1498).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 9 issued a pair of decisions sustaining the Commerce Department's 2018-19 and 2019-20 reviews of the antidumping duty order on activated carbon from China. In the 2018-19 review, Judges Richard Taranto, Alvin Schall and Raymond Chen upheld Commerce's surrogate value pick for coal-based carbonized material, an input of activated carbon. In the 2019-20 review, the judges upheld the agency's pick of Malaysia as the primary surrogate country and the surrogate value selections for carbonized material, coal tar, hydrochloric acid, steam and ocean freight.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 8 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Commerce Department properly relied on respondent Shakti Forge Industries' reported costs in the antidumping duty investigation on forged steel fittings from India, the Court of International Trade held on May 6. Sustaining the investigation after two remands, Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce permissibly found Shakti's costs to be accurate after conducting an in-person verification of the respondent's facilities during the second remand period.
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit pressed both respondent Salzgitter Flachstahl and the U.S. in an antidumping duty case regarding the use of partial adverse facts available against Salzgitter for its failure to provide manufacturer information for around 28,000 of its downstream sales made in Germany by one of its affiliates (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1219).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 7 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Commerce Department's selection of benchmarks in assessing the provision of phosphate rock mining rights and natural gas for less than adequate remuneration programs weren't supported by substantial evidence, the Court of International Trade held on May 6. Judge Jane Restani held that Commerce improperly excluded sedimentary phosphate rock in constructing the benchmark for the phosphate rock mining rights program and failed to show Kazakh natural gas would be available to Russian purchasers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 5 sharply questioned importer Valeo North America's argument that the Commerce Department improperly included its T-series aluminum sheet in the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on common alloy aluminum sheet from China. During a May 5 oral argument, Judges Todd Hughes, Richard Taranto and Kara Stoll pressed Valeo on its claim that Commerce distorted the scope language (Valeo North America v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1189).
The Court of International Trade on May 6 sustained the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation on forged steel fittings from India. After two remands for Commerce's decision to use a questionnaire in lieu of onsite verification, the agency conducted an in-person verification of respondent Shakti Forge Industries' facilities in India. Judge Stephen Vaden declared the procedural claims "vanquished," then sustained the agency's reliance on Shakti's reported costs. The judge noted that Commerce didn't find a "single inaccuracy" in the respondent's reporting and reasonably accepted the exporter's explanation of its finishing processes to be reasonable.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 6 on AD/CVD proceedings: