The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices June 9 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The Commerce Department "finally" came to a conclusion in an antidumping administrative review on large power transformers from South Korea that is in line with "record facts, the law and basic standards of investigative fairness," mandatory respondent Hyosung Heavy Industries Corporation said in June 7 comments on remand results. Joined by the other mandatory respondent Hyundai Heavy Industries and the Department of Justice, Hyosung voiced its approval of the remand results in the Court of International Trade, which scrapped the application of total adverse facts available after DOJ requested a voluntary remand to "reconsider" the original determinations (Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #18-00066).
The "U.S. shipping point" must be a location from which tomatoes ship from inside the U.S., and any expenses between the U.S. border and that point should be included in reference prices under the 2019 antidumping duty suspension agreement on Mexican tomatoes, Mexican exporters said in a June 3 memo. The memo responds to allegations of non-compliance during an administrative review of the agreement from the Florida Tomato Exchange, which says imports should be judged based on the price immediately after crossing the border. The FTE's interpretation cuts directly against the plain language of the agreement and uses an interpretation of the term "free on board (FOB) U.S. shipping point" that would lead to "absurd results" in how the agreement is applied, the Mexican growers said.
The Commerce Department can apply total adverse facts available for a mandatory respondent's failure to provide its factors of production data on a product-specific basis in an antidumping case, the Court of International Trade ruled in a June 9 opinion. Judge Leo Gordon, in a consolidated action challenging an antidumping administrative review on steel nails from China, said Commerce had the right to switch to the control number-specific reporting requirement and the mandatory respondent should have known about this switch. Gordon also found that Commerce was justified in including the total AFA rate for two of the three mandatory respondents in the average for the non-individually reviewed respondents' rate.
The Commerce Department's decision on remand to reverse its affirmative determination that certain hardwood plywood products from China circumvented antidumping and countervailing duties "defies a wealth of evidence about what actually occurred in the hardwood plywood market," petitioner Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood said in June 7 comments on Commerce's remand results. Commerce ignored multiple pieces of contradictory evidence in making its determination following a Court of International Trade opinion remanding the case and made a determination that undermines its own conclusion that certain hardwood plywood was not "later-developed" after the AD/CVD orders, the coalition said (Shelter Forest International Acquisition, Inc. et al v. United States, CIT #19-00212).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices June 8 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The Commerce Department should have used the highest margin for the sole mandatory respondent in an antidumping case since the agency decided to rely on adverse facts available in the investigation, domestic silicon metal producers Globe Specialty Metals and Mississippi Silicon said in a June 7 complaint in the Court of International Trade. The two producers also challenged Commerce's decision to disregard that rate based on a financial statement from a firm "whose financial results were dominated by operations unrelated to the production of silicon metal" (Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. and Mississippi Silicon LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00231).
The Court of International Trade issued a confidential opinion in an antidumping case on welded line pipe from South Korea sustaining the Commerce Department's remand results in part and remanding in part, according to a June 7 filing. According to a letter filed by Judge Claire Kelly, the public version of the decision is expected either on or shortly after June 15 once all parties review bracketed information to determine its level of confidentiality. The case, originally filed by Husteel Co., concerns, among other things, Commerce's finding of a particular market situation in Korea for welded line pipe, the agency's reliance, or lack thereof, on a mandatory respondent's third country sales to calculate normal value and Commerce's reclassification of a respondent's reported losses associated with suspended production as general and administrative expenses.
A pasta maker found ineligible for an acquired company’s antidumping duty exemption in a 2014 changed circumstances review cannot use that predecessor’s antidumping and countervailing duty rates for entries before the effective date of the final results of that review, CBP said in a recent ruling. Instead, the pasta maker must file at the all others rate for entries before the changed circumstances review took effect, CBP said in HQ H287183, issued March 26 and posted to CBP’s CROSS database June 3.
CBP will take a closer look at entries of imported xanthan gum brought in by A&A Pharmachem Inc. USA as part of an investigation under the Enforce and Protect Act, the agency said in a May 27 notice it posted on June 3. The investigation followed an allegation filed by CP Kelco, through Greenberg Trauring lawyer Matthew Kanna, that said A&A evaded antidumping duty order A-570-985 on xanthan gum from China, CBP said. CP Kelco is a domestic producer of the product.