Jacobi Carbons Ab v. United States

619 F. App'x 992
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedAugust 3, 2015
Docket2014-1752, 2014-1756, 2014-1753, 2014-1754
StatusUnpublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 619 F. App'x 992 (Jacobi Carbons Ab 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
Jacobi Carbons Ab v. United States, 619 F. App'x 992 (Fed. Cir. 2015).

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge MOORE.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge BRYSON.

MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Appellants Jacobi Carbons AB and Jacobi Carbons, Inc. (collectively, “Jacobi”); Ningxia Guanghua Cherish-met Activated Carbon Co. (“GHC”), Cherishmet Inc., Beijing Pacific Activated Carbon Products Co., Datong Municipal Yunguang Activated Carbon Co. (“Datong Municipal”), and Shanxi Industry Technology Trading Co. (“Shanxi”) (collectively, “Cherishmet”); and Carbon Activated Corp., Car Go Worldwide, Inc., and Tangshan Solid Carbon Co. (“Tangshan”) (collectively, “CAC”) appeal'the decision of the United States Court of International Trade (“CIT”) sustaining the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) Final Results in the fourth administrative review of the anti-dumping duty order on certain activated carbon from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) covering the period April 1, 2010 through March 81, 2011. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Congress has provided for the imposition of antidumping duties on foreign merchandise sold, or likely to be sold, at less than fair value in the United States. 19 U.S.C. § 1673. Commerce determines an-tidumping duties based on the amount by which the “normal value” of merchandise (its price in its home market) exceeds its “export price” (its price in the United States). Id. §§ 1677(35)(A), 1677b(a) (2012). For nonmarket economies like the PRC, Commerce calculates normal value based on “the value of the factors of production utilized in producing the merchandise and ... an [added] amount for general expenses and profit plus the cost of containers, coverings, and other expenses.” Id. § 1677b(c)(l)(B).

On April 27, 2007, Commerce issued an antidumping duty order covering certain [995]*995activated carbon from the PRC. Certain Activated Carbon from the People’s Republic of China, 72 Fed.Reg. 20,988 (Dep’t of Commerce Apr. 27, 2007). After receiving requests seeking administrative review of the order, Commerce initiated the subject review on May 27, 2011. See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 76 Fed. Reg. 30,912, 30,913-16 (Dep’t of Commerce May 27, 2011). Commerce selected appellants Jacobi Carbons AB and GHC as two of the mandatory respondents for individual examination during the administrative review. Appellants Shanxi, Datong Municipal, and Tangshan subsequently filed separate rate certifications.

Commerce published the preliminary results of the review on May 4, 2012. Certain Activated Carbon from the People’s Republic of China, 77 Fed.Reg. 26,496 (Dep’t of Commerce May 4, 2012) (“Preliminary Results ”). For the Preliminary Results, Commerce selected Thailand as the primary surrogate country and therefore used Thai data to calculate surrogate values for the respondents’ factors of production. Commerce calculated weighted-average dumping margins of $1.49 per kilogram for Jacobi Carbons AB, $1.07 per kilogram for GHC, and $1.34 per kilogram for the separate rate companies.

Following publication of the Preliminary Results, the respondents placed additional data from the Philippines on the record and urged Commerce to use this data to value the major material inputs. Jacobi Carbons AB v. United States, 992 F.Supp.2d 1360, 1364 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2014). Commerce published the final results of the review and the accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum on November 9, 2012. Certain Activated Carbon from the People’s Republic of China, 77 Fed.Reg. 67,337 (Dep’t of Commerce Nov. 9, 2012) {“Final Results ”); Certain Activated Carbon from the People’s Republic of China A-570-904 (Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Final Results of the Fourth Antidumping Duty Administrative Review) (Dep’t of Commerce Nov. 9, 2012) {“Issues and Decisions Memorandum”) (J.A. 371-400). In the Final Results, Commerce selected the Philippines over Thailand as the primary surrogate country and used Philippine data, rather than Thai data, to calculate the surrogate values for many of the respondents’ factors of production, including carbonized material and truck freight. In light of these changes, Commerce calculated weighted-average dumping margins of $0.44 per kilogram for Jacobi Carbons AB, $2.11 per kilogram for GHC, and $1.04 per kilogram for the separate rate companies.

Appellants challenged the Final Results at the CIT, arguing that Commerce did not use the best available information when it calculated the surrogate values for carbonized material and truck freight. The CIT disagreed, finding that substantial evidence supported each of Commerce’s surrogate value determinations. Jacobi Carbons, 992 F.Supp.2d at 1374, 1377. Because the CIT found that substantial evidence supported Commerce’s surrogate value determinations, it sustained the agency’s separate rate calculation. Id. at 1377. This appeal followed. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1296(a)(5).

Discussion

We review decisions of the CIT de novo, applying the same standard used by the CIT. Downhole Pipe & Equip., L.P. v. United States, 776 F.3d 1369, 1373 (Fed. Cir.2015). In antidumping duty proceedings, we uphold Commerce’s determinations unless they are “unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 19 [996]*996U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(l)(B)(i). “Substantial evidence is more than a mere scintilla,” and “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind' might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Consol. Edison Co. of N.Y. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938). “Our re: view is limited to the record before Commerce in the particular review proceeding at issue,” Qingdao Sea-Line Trading Co. v. United States, 766 F.3d 1378, 1385 (Fed.Cir.2014), and the burden of creating this record lies with the interested parties, not with Commerce, QVD Food Co. v. United States, 658 F.3d 1318, 1324 (Fed.Cir.2011).

To determine the surrogate value for a factor of production from a nonmarket economy like the PRC, Congress directed Commerce to use the “best available information” from a comparable market economy country or countries. 19 'U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(l)(B). “Commerce has broad discretion to determine what constitutes the best available information, as this term is not defined by statute.” Qingdao, 766 F.3d at 1386. In doing so, it is Commerce’s practice to choose, where possible, data that reflects a broad market average and is publicly available, contemporaneous with the period of review, specific to the input in question, and exclusive of taxes on exports. See QVD Food Co. v. United States, 721 F.Supp.2d 1311, 1315 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2010), aff'd, 658 F.3d 1318 (Fed.Cir.2011).

I.

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

Related

Jilin Bright Future Chem. Co., Ltd. v. United States
2023 CIT 188 (Court of International Trade, 2023)
PT. Asia Pacific Fibers Tbk v. United States
673 F. Supp. 3d 1320 (Court of International Trade, 2023)
United Steel & Fasteners, Inc. v. United States
469 F. Supp. 3d 1390 (Court of International Trade, 2020)
T. T. International Co. v. United States
439 F. Supp. 3d 1370 (Court of International Trade, 2020)
Jacobi Carbons AB v. United States
313 F. Supp. 3d 1344 (Court of International Trade, 2018)
Aristocraft of America, LLC v. United States
269 F. Supp. 3d 1316 (Court of International Trade, 2017)
Linyi City Kangfa Foodstuff Drinkable Co. v. United States
2016 CIT 89 (Court of International Trade, 2016)
In Re: Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc.
832 F.3d 1327 (Federal Circuit, 2016)
Beijing Tianhai Industry Co. v. United States
106 F. Supp. 3d 1342 (Court of International Trade, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
619 F. App'x 992, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jacobi-carbons-ab-v-united-states-cafc-2015.