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:
Importer Inspired Ventures moved the Court of International Trade for a mediator in its case against CBP's decision to put two of its rubber tire entries on hold under suspicions that the goods had a high risk of tariff evasion. Inspired Ventures said the issue is "ripe for settlement" in light of the government's concession that CBP erred in detaining the tires (Inspired Ventures v. United States, CIT # 24-00062).
The Commerce Department continued to exclude certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings made from Chinese fittings that underwent production in Vietnam from the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China. Submitting its remand results to the Court of International Trade on May 2, Commerce assessed various (k)(1) sources, namely the original 1991 petition, the 1992 International Trade Commission report, a prior circumvention finding and statements from industry officials upon direction from the court (Tube Forgings of America v. United States, CIT # 23-00231).
The Court of International Trade on May 6 upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's 2020-21 review of the countervailing duty order on phosphate fertilizer from Russia. Judge Jane Restani remanded Commerce's benchmark calculations for the provision of phosphate rock mining rights for less than adequate remuneration and natural gas for LTAR programs. The judge said Commerce improperly excluded data on phosphate rock taken from sedimentary reserves and erred in using sales of natural gas from Kazakhstan to Russia. However, Restani sustained the use of data only from 2021 to calculate the mining rights subsidy, calculation of respondent JSC Apatit's phosphate rock cost of sales plus profit, and use of adverse facts available to find that Apatit's natural gas suppliers were government authorities.