Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd. v. United States

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedMay 1, 2023
Docket22-1298
StatusUnpublished

This text of Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd. v. United States (Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd. v. United States, (Fed. Cir. 2023).

Opinion

Case: 22-1298 Document: 57 Page: 1 Filed: 05/01/2023

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

CARBON ACTIVATED TIANJIN CO., LTD., CARBON ACTIVATED CORPORATION, DATONG JUQIANG ACTIVATED CARBON CO., LTD., BEIJING PACIFIC ACTIVATED CARBON PRODUCTS CO., LTD., NINGXIA GUANGHUA CHERISHMET ACTIVATED CARBON CO., LTD., NINGXIA MINERAL & CHEMICAL LIMITED, SHANXI SINCERE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD., Plaintiffs-Appellants

v.

UNITED STATES, CALGON CARBON CORPORATION, NORIT AMERICAS INC., FKA CABOT NORIT AMERICAS, INC., Defendants-Appellees ______________________

2022-1298 ______________________

Appeal from the United States Court of International Trade in No. 1:20-cv-00007-MAB, Chief Judge Mark A. Barnett. ______________________

Decided: May 1, 2023 ______________________ Case: 22-1298 Document: 57 Page: 2 Filed: 05/01/2023

DHARMENDRA NARAIN CHOUDHARY, Grunfeld, Desid- erio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP, Washington, DC, argued for plaintiffs-appellants. Also represented by JORDAN CHARLES KAHN, KAVITA MOHAN, FRANCIS JOSEPH SAILER.

MARGARET JANTZEN, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Wash- ington, DC, argued for defendant-appellee United States. Also represented by BRIAN M. BOYNTON, CLAUDIA BURKE, MOLLIE LENORE FINNAN, PATRICIA M. MCCARTHY; ASHLANDE GELIN, Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade En- forcement and Compliance, United States Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.

MELISSA M. BREWER, Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP, Washington, DC, argued for defendants-appellees Calgon Carbon Corporation, Norit Americas Inc. Also represented by JOHN M. HERRMANN, JULIA KUELZOW, ROBERT ALAN LUBERDA. ______________________

Before HUGHES, STOLL, and STARK, Circuit Judges. STARK, Circuit Judge. This case involves an appeal from a final judgment of the United States Court of International Trade (“CIT”) sus- taining the results of remand proceedings before the United States Department of Commerce (“Commerce”). Specifically, Appellants ask us to reverse certain aspects of the CIT’s review of Commerce’s eleventh administrative re- view (“AR11”) of antidumping duties for activated carbon from the People’s Republic of China (“China”). AR11 per- tains to activated carbon that entered the United States during the period of review (“POR”) of April 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018. For the reasons set out below, we affirm. Case: 22-1298 Document: 57 Page: 3 Filed: 05/01/2023

CARBON ACTIVATED TIANJIN CO., LTD. v. US 3

I A Antidumping duties may be imposed when Commerce “determines that a class or kind of foreign merchandise is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than its fair value” and such sales are injuring or could in- jure domestic industry. 19 U.S.C. § 1673. A product is “dumped” when it is sold or likely sold at less than fair value. “Sales at less than fair value are those sales for which the ‘normal value’ (the price a producer charges in its home market) exceeds the ‘export price’ (the price of the product in the United States) or ‘constructed export price.’” U.S. Steel Corp. v. United States, 621 F.3d 1351, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (quoting 19 U.S.C. § 1677(35)(A)). Commerce “determine[s] the normal value of the sub- ject merchandise on the basis of the value of the factors of production utilized in producing the merchandise . . . add[ing] an amount for general expenses and profit plus the cost of containers, coverings, and other expenses.” 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(1)(B). The factors of production include, but are not limited to, the “hours of labor required,” the “quantities of raw materials employed,” the “amounts of energy and other utilities consumed,” and the “representa- tive capital cost, including depreciation.” Id. § 1677b(c)(3). Because China is considered a nonmarket economy country, Commerce cannot simply use the price that pro- ducers charge in China as the normal value for its anti- dumping duty assessment. Therefore, “in valuing factors of production under paragraph (1), [Commerce] shall uti- lize, to the extent possible, the prices or costs of factors of production in one or more market economy countries that are . . . at a level of economic development comparable to that of the nonmarket economy country, and . . . significant producers of comparable merchandise.” Id. § 1677b(c)(4). When able, Commerce prefers to “value all factors in a sin- gle surrogate country.” 19 C.F.R. § 351.408(c)(2); see also Case: 22-1298 Document: 57 Page: 4 Filed: 05/01/2023

19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(4) (“The administering authority, in valuing factors of production under paragraph (1), shall utilize, to the extent possible, the prices or costs of factors of production in one or more market economy countries.”). Ultimately, Commerce calculates a weighted-average dumping margin for each individually investigated ex- porter and producer, and an estimated rate for all other ex- porters and producers. See 19 U.S.C. §§ 1673d(c)(1)(B)(i), 1677f-1(c). Commerce will also periodically review the an- tidumping duty amount upon request. See Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. v. United States, 975 F.3d 1318, 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2020). B Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd. and Carbon Acti- vated Corp. (collectively, “Carbon Activated”) and Datong Juqiang Activated Carbon Co., Ltd. (“DJAC”) were selected by Commerce as mandatory respondents in AR11. J.A. 43. Commerce tabulated preliminary weighted-average dump- ing margins for Carbon Activated and DJAC, and a sepa- rate rate for non-examined respondents, 1 and then adjusted its calculations to compute final dumping mar- gins. J.A. 43-44; J.A. 3-36 (hereinafter the “Final Results Memorandum”); J.A. 37-39 (Certain Activated Carbon from the People’s Republic of China, 84 Fed. Reg. 68,881 (Dep’t of Com. Dec. 17, 2019)). In the Final Results Memorandum, Commerce made several determinations as to value inputs that are relevant to this appeal. First, Commerce relied on Malaysia as the primary surrogate country, after also considering

1 Beijing Pacific Activated Carbon Products, Co., Ltd.; Ningxia Guanghua Cherishmet Activated Carbon Co., Ltd.; Ningxia Mineral & Chemical Ltd.; and Shanxi Sincere Industrial Co., Ltd. are not mandatory respondents but they are among the Appellants to this appeal. Case: 22-1298 Document: 57 Page: 5 Filed: 05/01/2023

CARBON ACTIVATED TIANJIN CO., LTD. v. US 5

Romania. J.A. 6-11. Second, Commerce valued all of Car- bon Activated’s and DJAC’s bituminous coal pursuant to Harmonized System (“HS”) 2701.12 (“Bituminous Coal, Not Agglomerated,” J.A. 141) – but, because Malaysian im- port statistics under HS 2701.12 were unreliable, Com- merce instead used Romanian import values classified under the same subheading (i.e., HS 2701.12). J.A. 11-18. Third, Commerce valued Carbon Activated’s and DJAC’s coal tar pitch under HS 2708.10 (“Pitch from coal and other mineral tars,” J.A. 62) using Malaysian import statistics. J.A. 18-21. Appellants appealed Commerce’s determinations to the CIT. J.A.

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