Jacobi Carbons AB v. United States

992 F. Supp. 2d 1360, 2014 CIT 70, 36 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 602, 2014 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 67, 2014 WL 2871316
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJune 24, 2014
DocketConsol. 12-00365
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 992 F. Supp. 2d 1360 (Jacobi Carbons AB 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
Jacobi Carbons AB v. United States, 992 F. Supp. 2d 1360, 2014 CIT 70, 36 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 602, 2014 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 67, 2014 WL 2871316 (cit 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

EATON, Judge:

This matter is before the court on the USCIT Rule 56.2 motions for judgment on the agency record of plaintiffs Jacobi Carbons AB and Jacobi Carbons, Inc. (collectively, “Jacobi”), 1 and consolidated plaintiffs 2 Ningxia Guanghua Cherishmet Activated Carbon Co., Ltd. (“GHC”), Cherishmet Inc. (“Cherish-met”), Beijing Pacific Activated Carbon Products Co., Ltd. (“BPACP”), Datong Municipal Yunguang Activated Carbon Co., Ltd. (“Datong Municipal”), Shanxi Industry Technology Trading Co., Ltd. (“Shanxi Industry”), Carbon Activated Corp. and Car Go Worldwide, Inc. (collectively, “CAC”), and Tangshan Solid Carbon Co., Ltd. (“Tangshan”) (collectively, “plaintiffs”). By their motions, plaintiffs, all of which are producers, exporters, or importers of subject merchandise, 3 challenge the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce” or *1363 the “Department”) 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”). Certain Activated Carbon From the PRC, 77 Fed.Reg. 67,337 (Dep’t of Commerce Nov. 9, 2012) (final results of antidumping duty admin, review), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum (“Issues & Dec. Mem.”) (collectively, “Final Results”).

Jacobi, GHC, Cherishmet, BPACP, Datong Municipal, CAC, and Tangshan contest two aspects of the Department’s Final Results: (1) the selection of the surrogate value for carbonized material, which is one of the primary inputs used in the production of subject merchandise; 4 and (2) the selection of the surrogate value for truck freight. See Resp’t Pls.’ Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. on the Agency R. 1-2 (ECF Dkt. No. 47) (“Jacobi’s Br.”); Mem. in Supp. of Pls.’ Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. upon the Agency R. 1 (ECF Dkt. No. 46) (“GHC’s Br.” 5 ); Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. upon the Agency R. of Pis. Carbon Activated Corporation and Car Go Worldwide, Inc. 2 (“CAC’s Mot.”); Consol. Pl. Tangshan Solid Carbon Co., Ltd.’s Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. on the Agency R. 1-2 (“Tangshan’s Mot.”).

Shanxi Industry and Tangshan (collectively, “separate rate companies” or “separate rate respondents”) are plaintiffs that established their independence from Chinese government control, and as a result, were assigned a separate antidumping duty rate in the Final Results. See Final Results, 77 Fed.Reg. at 67,338. The separate rate respondents and CAC 6 claim that, should Commerce recalculate the final dumping margin for the mandatory respondents pursuant to any remand ordered by the court, the Department must also recalculate the rate assigned to the separate rate companies. See Mem. of Law in Supp. of PI. Shanxi Industry Technology Trading Co., Ltd.’s Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. upon the Agency R. 2 (ECF Dkt. No. 44) (“Shanxi Industry’s Br.”); Tangshan’s Mot. 2; CAC’s Mot. 2.

Defendant United States opposes plaintiffs’ motions and asks that Commerce’s Final Results be sustained. Def.’s Resp. to Pis.’ and Consol. Pls.’ Mots, for J. upon the Agency R. 2 (ECF Dkt. No. 56) (“Def.’s Br.”). Defendant-intervenors, Calgon Carbon Corp. and Norit Americas, Inc. (collectively, “defendant intervenors”), each domestic manufacturers of activated carbon, join in opposition to plaintiffs’ motions. Def.-Ints.’ Resp. in Opp’n to Con-sol. Pis.’ Mots, for J. on the Agency R. 1 (ECF Dkt. No. 58) (“Def.-Ints.’ Br.”). Jurisdiction lies pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (2006) and 19 U.S.C. *1364 §§ 1516a(a)(2)(A)(i)(I), (B)(iii) (2006). For the reasons set out below, Commerce’s Final Results are sustained.

BACKGROUND

On April 27, 2007, the Department issued the antidumping duty order on certain activated carbon from the PRC. Certain Activated Carbon From the PRC, 72 Fed.Reg. 20,988, 20,988 (Dep’t of Commerce Apr. 27, 2007) (notice of antidumping duty order) (the “Order”). Following timely requests from defendant-intervenors and other companies, the Department conducted its fourth administrative review of the Order for the period of review (“POR”), April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011. Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 76 Fed.Reg. 30,912, 30,913 (Dep’t of Commerce May 27, 2011).

On May 4, 2012, the Department published its Preliminary Results for the review, selecting Datong Juqiang Activated Carbon Co., Ltd., 7 Jacobi, and GHC as mandatory respondents. Certain Activated Carbon from the PRC, 77 Fed.Reg. 26,496, 26,497 (Dep’t of Commerce May 4, 2012) (preliminary results of the fourth antidumping duty admin, review, and intent to rescind in part) (“Preliminary Results”). BPACP, Datong Municipal, Shanxi Industry, and Tangshan each filed separate rate certifications, and Cherish-met and CAC joined as interested U.S. importers. See Preliminary Results, 77 Fed.Reg. at 26,501. In the Preliminary Results, Commerce “selected Thailand as the primary surrogate country for the valuation of the [factors of production] and surrogate financial ratios.” Mem. from Katie Marksberry, International Trade Specialist, to the File at 1, PD 193, at bar code 3072722-01 (Apr. 30, 2012), ECF Dkt. No. 43 (Apr. 5, 2013) (“Preliminary Results Surrogate Values Mem.”).

Following publication of the Preliminary Results, Jacobi, GHC, Cherishmet, and BPACP submitted comments that placed on the record additional data from the Philippines, and urged the Department to use it to value all of the major material inputs. Issues & Dec. Mem. at cmt. 1. In the Final Results, Commerce found that “both the Philippines and Thailand [were] significant producers [of activated carbon] because, in quantity terms, they [were] exporters of goods identical to the subject merchandise, [and] ha[d] production of comparable merchandise as evidenced by the financial statements on the record.” Issues & Dec. Mem. at cmt. 1. The Department determined, however, that although otherwise “relatively equal in terms of quality and satisfaction] of all of the surrogate value criteria,” the Philippine data (particularly the financial statements) was “clearly superior” to the Thai data because it was “industry-specific, whereas the Thai data [was] for the manufacturing sector in general.” Issues & Dec. Mem. at cmt. 1. The Philippine data was also found to be more contemporaneous to the POR than the Thai data. Issues & Dec. Mem. at cmt. 1.

As a result, Commerce departed from its determination in the Preliminary Results, and selected the Philippines as the primary surrogate country to value most of the major material inputs used in the production of subject merchandise, including the carbonized material and truck freight. 8 Final Results, 77 Fed.Reg. at *1365 67,338. Specifically, the Department used Harmonized Tariff Schedule (“HTS”) 9

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992 F. Supp. 2d 1360, 2014 CIT 70, 36 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 602, 2014 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 67, 2014 WL 2871316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jacobi-carbons-ab-v-united-states-cit-2014.