Rautaruukki Oy v. United States

19 Ct. Int'l Trade 438
United States Court of International Trade·Decided March 31, 1995·No. Consolidated Court No. 93-09-00560-AD·Published

Opinion

Memorandum and Order

Aquilino, Judge:

This action consolidates CIT No. 93-09-00560 commenced by Rautaruukki Oy and CIT No. 93-08-00608 brought by Inland Steel Industries, Inc., Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Geneva Steel, Gulf States Steel, Inc. of Alabama, Lukens Steel Company, Sharon Steel Corporation and U.S. Steel Group, a Unit of USX Corporation. These firms have all interposed motions for judgment on the record compiled by the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce (“ITA”) sub nom. Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate From Finland, 58 Fed.Reg. 37,122 (July 9, 1993), amended, 58 Fed.Reg. 44,165 (Aug. 19,1993).

Jurisdiction of this court is based on 28 U.S.C. §1581(c), with the standard of judicial review of the issues raised whether the challenged agency determination is unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b) (1) (B).

I

Rautaruukki Oy’s motion, which will be referred to hereinafter as that of the “plaintiff”, seeks judgment based upon errors sought to be [439] attributed to the ITA, including (a) refusal to make a “ small item quantity” adjustment to foreign-market value pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1677b (a) (4) (A); (b) refusal to consider corrected information regarding heat treatment of certain carbon steel plate products for the calculation of the margin of dumping; (c) disallowal of a circumstances-of-sale adjustment pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §1677b(a)(4)(B) for direct selling expenses; and (d) rejection of revised information as to general and administrative expenses used in calculating the foreign-market value.

A

In regard to the first specification of error, the plaintiff defines “item quantity” as “one size and one quality of carbon steel plate (or other flat-rolled carbon steel product) in one customer order for a single delivery to a single destination at a single time.” Plaintiffs Motion, p. 10. The statute governing the ITA on this issue states:

In determining foreign market value, if it is established to the satisfaction of the administering authority that the amount of any difference between the United States price and the foreign market value * * * is wholly or partly due to—
(A) the fact that the commercial quantities in which such or similar merchandise is sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale, for exportation to, or in the principal markets of, the United States, as appropriate, in the ordinary course of trade, are less or are greater than the commercial quantities in which such or similar merchandise is sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale, in the principal markets of the country of exportation in the ordinary course of trade for home consumption (or, if not so sold for home consumption, then for exportation to countries other than the United States);
* s|í ÍJÍ * * ❖ %
then due allowance shall be made therefor.

19 U.S.C. §1677b(a)(4). See also 19C.F.R. §353.55. And the agency’s final determination states that plaintiff’s

support on the record for this claim consists merely of a single chart, lacking comprehensive, narrative explanation, and a figure reported in the sales listing field for this claimed adjustment. In its response to the Department’s sales questionnaire, Rautaruukki claimed to be working on a “study” to justify the adjustment. However, no such study was ever placed on the record in this investigation. The information which Rautaruukki has presented does not adequately support or quantify the claim for a quantity adjustment.

58 Fed.Reg. at 37,123.

The plaintiff disputes this characterization, claiming three submissions in the record contain “more than adequate support for making a small item quantity adjustment to * * * FMV” Plaintiffs Motion, p. 11. It refers to its response to the agency questionnaire which explained that the “average item size produced by Rautaruukki for the U.S. mar-[440] ketis* * * larger than for the Finnish home market."1 Furthermore, the plaintiff asserts that that response specifically included the weighted average effect of the small-item quantity and explained that the “production of the larger number of items for the Finnish home market required more work, more production changes, and more production time”, which are considered when pricing the merchandise. Id. at 12.

According to the plaintiff, it also provided a chart showing the “relationship of the production costs of carbon steel plate to item quantity” and a memorandum “which analyzed in detail the production costs of carbon steel plate as a function of the item quantity factor.” Id. See ConfApp Tabs B & C.

On July 1,1993, the plaintiff requested the ITA to correct the final determination “to reflect the presence of this memorandum on the record * * * and withdraw the final determination until it ha[d] an opportunity to review the memorandum and incorporate this information into a final determination”. ConfApp Tab D, pp. 2-3. The agency refused this request:

* * * The memorandum which Rautaruukki cites was considered in our final determination. However, our final determination wás accurate in stating that Rautaruukki’s support for its chart and claimed figure was not comprehensive because: 1) the memorandum itself contains the admission that it used a “simplified model” based on an uncompleted production cost project; and 2.) the memorandum further stated that the project would be completed before the end of the year (1992), but no completed study was ever placed on the record * * * despite several additional opportunities for respondent to do so, including a specific request by the Department for additional support for the claimed adjustment. Therefore, we disagree with Rautaruukki that any ministerial error has been committed.2

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