Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. United States

70 F. Supp. 3d 1328, 2015 CIT 53, 37 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1463, 2015 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 53, 2015 WL 3544442
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJune 5, 2015
DocketSlip Op. 15-53; Court 13-00346
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 70 F. Supp. 3d 1328 (Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. United States, 70 F. Supp. 3d 1328, 2015 CIT 53, 37 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1463, 2015 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 53, 2015 WL 3544442 (cit 2015).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

POGUE, Senior Judge:

This action arises from the seventh administrative review by the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) of the antidumping duty (“AD”) order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”). 1 In this review, Commerce determined to revoke the order with respect to respondent Zhanjiang Regal Integrated Marine Resources Company, Limited (“Regal”). 2 Appealing Commerce’s determination, Plaintiff Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee (“AHSTAC”) — an association of domestic warmwater shrimp producers that participated in this review 3 ■ — ■ claims that Commerce’s revocation was in error. 4 Specifically, AHSTAC challenges (1) Commerce’s reliance, in concluding that Regal was eligible for company-specific revocation, on data and analysis that were previously held not to have been based on a reasonable reading of the record evidence because, inter alia, the agency arbitrarily ignored economic comparability in its evaluation of factor of production data; and (2) Commerce’s determination to disregard discrepancies between Regal’s verified sales data and the entry information provided by U.S. importers in concluding that the continued application of the AD order to Regal’s merchandise was not necessary to offset dumping. 5

The court has jurisdiction pursuant to Section 516A(a)(2)(B)(iii) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(B)(iii) (2012), 6 and 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (2012).

As explained below, Commerce’s reliance, without reconsideration or additional explanation, on data and analysis from the fifth review of this AD order — despite this Court’s prior holding that these same determinations were not based on a reasonable reading of record evidence, and despite material differences between the *1331 record of that proceeding and this revocation inquiry — is remanded for reconsideration. On the other hand, Commerce’s decision to disregard any discrepancy between Regal’s verified sales data and the entry information provided by importers was reasonable, and is therefore sustained.

BACKGROUND

Antidumping duty orders are imposed on imported merchandise that is sold at prices below normal value (i.e., “dumped”), where “normal value” is usually the price at which like products are sold in the exporting country or, for merchandise originating in non-market economies (“NMEs”), a value calculated. using-appropriate surrogate market economy data. 7 Such orders are regularly reviewed by Commerce, such that the agency determines producer/exporter-specific dumping margins, covering discrete (typically one-year) time periods, by making contemporaneous normal value to export price comparisons. 8 Pursuant to a regulation in effect at the time of the administrative review at issue here, Commerce was authorized to revoke the AD order with respect to particular exporters/producers after considering whether (A) such an exporter/producer had “sold the merchandise at not less than normal value for a period of at least three consecutive years”; (B) such exporter/producer (if previously determined to have sold the merchandise at less than normal value) “agrees in writing to its immediate reinstatement in the order, as long as any exporter or producer, is subject to the order, if [Commerce] concludes that the exporter or producer, subsequent to the revocation, sold the subject merchandise at less than normal value”; and (C) whether “the continued application of the anti-dumping duty order is otherwise necessary to offset dumping.” 9

Pursuant to this regulation, Regal requested company-specific revocation, citing its zero percent dumping margins in the fourth and fifth administrative reviews (and its expected zero percent dumping-margins in the sixth and seventh reviews), and certifying in writing its agreement to its immediate reinstatement under the order should Commerce determine in the future that Regal is selling subject merchandise to the United States at prices below normal value. 10 By the time of Commerce’s decision regarding this revocation request, Regal had been individually examined in the sixth and seventh reviews, *1332 and received zero percent dumping margins in both proceedings. 11 Regal was not, however, individually examined in the fifth review, 12 in which it was assigned a zero percent dumping margin based on its individually-calculated zero percent rate in the previous (fourth) review. 13 Because Regal was not individually examined in the fifth review, Commerce requested from Regal information and sales data from the time period covered by that review, “to confirm that Regal did not dump during that time,” 14 and hence to confirm that Regal did not dump for three consecutive years, as required for revocation eligibility under the regulation. 15 Finding that Regal’s fifth review sales data confirmed that Regal did not sell subject merchandise at less than the normal values calculated during that proceeding, Commerce concluded that Regal satisfied this regulatory requirement. 16 As explained below, AHSTAC now challenges this finding in so far as it relies, without additional analysis, on comparison values.from the fifth review that were held by this' Court to require reconsideration. 17

AHSTAC’s first challenge is directed at Commerce’s decision to compare Regal’s sales data for the period covered by the fifth administrative review 18 with the nor *1333 mal values calculated during that proceeding. 19 Because Commerce considers China to be a non-market economy, these normal values were based on “the value of the factors of production utilized in producing the merchandise,” including “an amount for general expenses and profit plus the cost of containers, coverings, and other expenses” (collectively, the “FOPs”), in a surrogate market economy country. 20 Commerce’s selection of the primary surrogate country for the fifth review period was successfully challenged by AHSTAC in that original proceeding. 21

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. United States
145 F. Supp. 3d 1349 (Court of International Trade, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 F. Supp. 3d 1328, 2015 CIT 53, 37 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1463, 2015 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 53, 2015 WL 3544442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ad-hoc-shrimp-trade-action-committee-v-united-states-cit-2015.