Both the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission committed various errors in their antidumping duty investigations on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Argentina, Mexico, Russia and South Korea, plaintiffs Tenaris Bay City, Maverick Tube, Ipsco Tubulars and Siderca said in three related complaints, all filed Jan. 13 at the Court of International Trade.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard claims over whether Krakatu POSCO -- a joint venture between a private South Korean steel company and an Indonesian government-owned firm -- was an authority or directed by an authority for the purposes of a countervailing duty investigation. During oral arguments Jan. 11 before Judges Alan Lourie, Timothy Dyk and Kara Stoll, counsel for CVD petitioner Wind Tower Trade Coalition, Kenertec Power System and the U.S. also argued over whether Indonesia's Rediscount Loan Program was an upstream subsidy and thus countervailable (Kenertec Power System v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03687).
The Commerce Department stuck by its decisions not to account for compliance costs in its countervailing duty calculations for programs under the Electricity Tax Act and Energy Tax Act and to find that Germany's KAV program is de jure specific, in remand results filed with the Court of International Trade on Jan. 10. Commerce said that it did not make any changes to the CVD rates in the investigation for respondent BGH Edelstahl Siegen (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. United States, CIT # 21-00080).
The Commerce Department issued its final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on sodium nitrite from India (A-533-906). Cash deposit rates set in this final determination take effect upon Federal Register publication, set for Jan. 6.
The Commerce Department announced the opportunity to request administrative reviews by Jan. 31 for producers and exporters subject to 22 antidumping duty orders, 15 countervailing duty orders and one suspension agreement with anniversary dates in January.
The Commerce Department will begin administrative reviews for certain firms subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders with November anniversary dates, it said in a notice published Jan. 3. Producers and exporters subject to administrative reviews on products from China or Vietnam must submit their separate rate certifications or applications on or about Feb. 2 to avoid being assigned high China-wide or Vietnam-wide rates.
The International Trade Commission violated the law by failing to either conduct a changed circumstances review or reconsider its original antidumping neglibility decision in a sunset review, Turkish exporter Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari (Erdemir) argued in a group of three related complaints at the Court of International Trade. After another exporter, Colakoglu Dis Ticaret, was revoked from the AD order following court proceedings, the ITC illegally denied any opportunity for Colakoglu's imports to be excluded from the antidumping duty injury proceeding, Erdemir said (Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari v. U.S. International Trade Commission, CIT #22-00349, #22-00350, #22-00351).
CBP has determined that C.I.S. Investments, doing business as Triangle Metals, evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on forged steel fittings from China, according to a Dec. 20 notice. The determination comes at the end of an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, which found that C.I.S. transshipped fittings through Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, did not declare that the merchandise was subject to AD/CVD orders upon entry, and made no cash deposits. CBP will require that for any imports of forged steel fittings from Sri Lanka, Thailand or Indonesia, C.I.S. deposit estimated duties at the time of entry, and CBP will evaluate the continuous bond and will require single transaction bonds as appropriate.
The Commerce Department on Dec. 16 filed its remand redetermination in a Court of International Trade case stemming from its countervailing duty investigation on phosphate fertilizers from Russia (The Mosaic Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00117). Commerce reconsidered its calculation of the total sales for EuroChem, its calculation of the natural gas benchmark, and its analysis of mining rights for less than adequate remuneration. Commerce revised its subsidy rate calculations for EuroChem from 47.05% to 23.77%, for PhosAgro from 9.19% to 14.3%, and the "all others" rate from 17.2% to 16.3%.
The Commerce Department will lower the engine displacement threshold for inclusion under the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on vertical shaft engines between 99cc and up to 225cc from China (A-570-124/C-570-125), it said in the final determination in an anti-circumvention inquiry. The agency found vertical shaft engines with a displacement of 60cc to 99cc are circumventing the orders and should be subject to AD/CVD.