The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Nov. 16 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Ruling against the Commerce Department's use of a particular market situation adjustment when normal value is based on constructed value "could render the provisions Congress enacted to empower Commerce to address distortive" PMS adjustments "a dead letter in most" AD proceedings, petitioner Wheatland Tube argued in a Nov. 14 reply brief. Responding to the appellee Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co.'s arguments for summary affirmance in the case, given the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's key opinion in Hyundai Steel v. U.S., Wheatland said that Commerce's PMS adjustment actually squares with Hyundai Steel (Saha Tahi Steel Pipe Public Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1175).
The Commerce Department stuck by its decision not to modify antidumping duty respondent Suzano's cost of production to exclude certain derivative expenses from the financial expense ratio in Nov. 14 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade. The combination of Suzano's audited financial statements and quarterly earnings (QE) releases together show that the derivative losses are not extraordinary but instead represent financing expenses related to Suzano's normal operations and thus should not be excluded from the ratio, Commerce said (Suzano S.A. v. United States, CIT #21-00069).
The Court of International Trade in a Nov. 15 judgment dismissed Amsted Rail's conflict-of-interest case against its former counsel for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Concurrently filing a confidential opinion but a public order, Judge Gary Katzmann said the plaintiffs can refile under Section 1581(c). The case was originally filed under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction (Amsted Rail v. U.S., CIT #22-00307).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Nov. 15 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate on Nov. 14 in a case concerning the 10th administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel nails from China. In the opinion, the appellate court ruled that the Commerce Department properly hit antidumping duty respondent Shanxi Pioneer Hardware Industrial with total adverse facts available for its failure to report all of its factors of production data on a control number (CONNUM)-specific basis (see 2209230034). The court said that the CONNUM-specific reporting requirement is an interpretive rule and not a legislative one requiring a notice-and-comment period, and that Pioneer failed to cooperate to the best of its ability by not maintaining adequate records and not developing a proper reporting methodology (Xi'an Metals & Minerals Import & Export Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2205 -2227).
The Commerce Department admitted that it was "improper" to inflate a Mexican labor wage rate using Brazilian consumer price index (CPI) data in an antidumping duty investigation. Submitting its remand results on Nov. 14 to the Court of International Trade, Commerce said it reopened the record and added Mexican wage rate data. The agency also found on remand that exporter Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading Co. met the burden for achieving separate rate status. The result of the remand is a zero percent dumping margin for respondents Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co. and now Ulix (New American Keg v. United States, CIT #20-00008).
The Commerce Department stuck by its use of a simple average in the denominatory calculation of the Cohen's d coefficient -- a part of the test to root out "masked" dumping -- in Nov. 10 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade. Responding to an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit telling the agency to justify its departure from the academic literature about how to calculate the Cohen's d denominator, Commerce said that the literature actually supports the use of a simple average when sampling is not used (Mid Continent Steel & Wire v. United States, CIT Consol. #15-00213).
Russia will no longer be considered a market economy in antidumping duty investigations, which will likely cause future AD rates to rise for some Russian companies and rates to be set higher in AD duty orders issued for the country going forward.
The American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance in a Nov. 7 statement expressed its disappointment with the Commerce Department's final results in the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on wooden cabinets and vanities from China, covering entries in 2019-2021. The group is weighing legal action over the review, Politico reported. In the review, Commerce found a zero percent antidumping margin for 16 companies (see 2211090008).