Böhler-Uddeholm Corp. v. United States

22 Ct. Int'l Trade 454
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedMay 14, 1998
DocketConsolidated Court No. 95-08-01024
StatusPublished

This text of 22 Ct. Int'l Trade 454 (Böhler-Uddeholm Corp. 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
Böhler-Uddeholm Corp. v. United States, 22 Ct. Int'l Trade 454 (cit 1998).

Opinion

Opinion

Restani, Judge:

Before the court is the United States Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) Results of Redetermination Pursuant to [455]*455Court Remand, Böhler-Uddeholm Corp. v. United States, Slip Op. 97-178 (Dec. 22, 1997) [hereinafter “Third Remand Results”]. Familiarity with the court’s earlier decisions in this case is presumed.1

In Bóhler-Uddeholm III, the court reviewed Commerce’s Second Remand Results and again remanded to Commerce with the following instructions: (1) consider the relevant evidence based on a review of the entire record before Treasury in 1976, including the three documents excluded from review in the Second Remand Results; (2) comply with the remand instructions articulated in Bóhler-Uddeholm II; and (3) address the arguments raised in Bóhler-Uddeholm’s Objections to the Agency’s Second Remand Redetermination. In the Third Remand Results, which included in part the analysis from the Second Remand Results , Commerce concluded that Stavax and Ramax are within the scope of the original antidumping finding on stainless steel plate from Sweden.

Bóhler-Uddeholm raises three arguments contesting this conclusion: (1) Commerce relied on a document, the American Iron and Steel Institute, Steel Products Manual: Stainless and Heat Resisting Steels (1974) (“AISI Manual”), that was not in the record before Treasury; (2) the definition of the scope gleaned by Commerce from the Tariff Commission Staff Report (“Staff Report”) is overly broad and therefore Commerce improperly determined that AISI grade 414 and grade 420 steels, the grades Stavax and Ramax compete with, are within the scope of the finding; and (3) the Carborundum2 analysis employed by Commerce incorrectly focused on resistance to corrosion and abrasion, a physical characteristic, and ignores or incorrectly analyzes the use information on the record. The court sustains Commerce’s Third Remand Results in its entirety.

I

Bóhler-Uddeholm argues that Commerce’s Second Remand Results contained references to the AISI Manual, a portion of which was attached to the petition, but which plaintiff argues was not before Treasury in its entirety. Thus, Bóhler-Uddeholm argues that the Third Remand Results, which relied in part on the Second Remand Results, are invalid to the extent it relies on the AISI Manual.

Bóhler-Uddeholm is barred from raising this issue before the court because it did not raise it during the administrative process. See Budd Co. v. United States, 773 F. Supp. 1549, 1554-55 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1991) (finding plaintiff s claim barred by failure to exhaust administrative remedies where plaintiff failed to raise argument during remand proceeding). Bóhler-Uddeholm did not raise this issue in its objections to the [456]*456Second Remand Results, nor did it raise it in its comments to the Third Remand Results. Moreover, while at one point in its comments to the draft remand determination Bohler-Uddeholm stated that it had doubts as to whether the AISI Manual was before Treasury, in a separate section of the same document, Bohler-Uddeholm relied on the AISI Manual to support its own position that Stavax and Ramax, like grades 414 and 420, are martensitic steels and thus not within the scope of the antidum-ping finding. See Bohler-Uddeholm Comments on Preliminary Redeter-mination., Def’s App. at 78, 81.

II

In Bohler-Uddeholm III, the court instructed Commerce to review three documents that were excluded from its analysis in the Second Remand Results. In its analysis of one ofthose documents, the Tariff Commission Staff Report, Commerce stated:

There is no evidence in the Staff Report indicating that the Tariff Commission intended to limit the scope of the finding to the “major uses” enumerated in the petition, or that any merchandise meeting the chemical and physical dimensions of stainless steel plate was to have been excluded from the finding.

Third Remand Results, Def.’s App. at 38. Commerce further stated:

The Staff Report sets forth five categories of stainless steel plate: (1) Grade 304, (2) Grade 304(L), (3) Grade 316, (4) Grade 316(L), and (5) “All Other” Grades. The uses or applications of these “other” grades, are not mentioned in the Staff Report. A reasonable inference, however, would be that the category “other grades” encompasses additional grades of steel meeting the chemical and physical dimension of stainless steel plate beyond the specified 300-grades.

Id.

Bohler-Uddeholm challenges two aspects of Commerce’s analysis of the Staff Report. First, Bohler-Uddeholm argues that Commerce incorrectly determined the scope of the original finding because the Staff Report provides a narrow definition of the subject class or kind of merchandise, limited to the uses listed in the petition. Commerce’s conclusion that the Staff Report did not limit the scope to certain specific uses of stainless steel plate, however, is supported by substantial evidence. Like the petition, the Staff Report listed the major uses of the subject class or kind of merchandise. Staff Report, at 4, PI.’s App., Ex. 3, at 42. Similarly, the court has repeatedly held that the list of uses in the petition is not exhaustive. See Böhler-Uddeholm II, 978 F. Supp. at 1180 & n.7; Böhler-Uddeholm I,946 F. Supp. at 1008. Further, Bohler-Udde-holm fails to point to any evidence that grades of stainless steel plate used in certain applications were excluded or that steel used as “tool steel” is different from the class or kind of merchandise. Thus, while Bohler-Uddeholm cites evidence that when viewed in isolation supports [457]*457an alternative conclusion, the court will not reweigh the evidence nor disturb a determination supported by substantial evidence.

Bohler-Uddeholm also argues that contrary to Commerce’s conclusion, the Staff Report limited the scope of the class or kind of merchandise under investigation to four 300-grades of steel and excluded grades 414 and 420, which compete with Stavax and Ramax. The court finds that Commerce’s determination is supported by substantial evidence. Commerce based its determination on the definition of the subject class in terms of physical characteristics, the consideration of imports and domestic production of “all other grades,” and the fact that no grade of stainless steel otherwise falling within the definition of the subject class was explicitly excepted from the scope of the finding.

Ill

Bohler-Uddeholm also argues that Commerce incorrectly performed the Carborundum analysis by: (1) comparing Stavax and Ramax to AISI stainless steel grades 414 and 420, rather than to the “totality of the class and kind in question;” (2) improperly focusing on the ability of stainless steel plate to resist corrosion and abrasion; and (3) placing excessive weight on the physical characteristics factor and insufficient weight on the use factor.

Contrary to Bohler-Uddeholm’s assertions, Commerce did not err in its Carborundum analysis. First, throughout the Third Remand Results, Commerce compared Stavax and Ramax to the entire class or kind of merchandise subject to the antidumping finding.

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Related

Budd Co., Wheel & Brake Division v. United States
773 F. Supp. 1549 (Court of International Trade, 1991)
Böhler-Uddeholm Corp. v. United States
946 F. Supp. 1003 (Court of International Trade, 1996)
Böhler-Uddeholm Corp. v. United States
978 F. Supp. 1176 (Court of International Trade, 1997)
United States v. Carborundum Co.
536 F.2d 373 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
22 Ct. Int'l Trade 454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bohler-uddeholm-corp-v-united-states-cit-1998.