Shandong Huarong General Group Corp. v. United States

60 F. App'x 797
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJanuary 10, 2003
DocketNo. 02-1095
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 60 F. App'x 797 (Shandong Huarong General Group Corp. 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
Shandong Huarong General Group Corp. v. United States, 60 F. App'x 797 (Fed. Cir. 2003).

Opinion

PROST, Circuit Judge.

Shandong Huarong General Group Corporation (“Shandong”), Liaoning Machinery Import & Export Company (“LMC”) and Tianjin Machinery Import & Export Corporation (“TMC”) appeal the final judgment of the United States Court of International Trade dismissing the appellants’ challenge to the final and amended final results of the United States Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce’s”) administrative review of antidumping orders covering certain heavy forged hand tools from the People’s Republic of China. Shandong Huarong Gen. Corp. v. United States, 177 F.Supp.2d 1304 (CIT 2001); Shandong Huarong Gen. Corp. v. United States, 159 F.Supp.2d 714 (CIT 2001). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(5). For the reasons discussed herein, we affirm.

The appellants manufacture heavy forged hand tools in China and export these tools to the United States. On February 11, 1999, Commerce published a notice of opportunity to request administrative review of the antidumping duty order covering heavy forged hand tools from China imported between February 8, 1998, and January 31, 1999. The appellants requested such a review for certain of their tools. Commerce issued a preliminary determination on March 8, 2000, classifying the steel bar used by appellants to make [798]*798their hand tools under Indian HTS Category 7214.10 — “Other bars and rods of iron and non-alloy steel, not further worked than forged, hot-rolled, hot-drawn or hot-extruded, but including those twisted after rolling — Forged bars and rods.” See Heavy Forged Hand Tools, Finished or Unfinished, With or Without Handles, From the People’s Republic of China; Preliminary Results and Partial Recission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews, 65 Fed. Reg. 12,202 (March 8, 2000). Appellants disagreed with this classification of their steel bar and, on April 19, 2000, Commerce held an administrative hearing to further consider the classification. Appellants argued at the hearing that classification under category 7214.10 was inappropriate because there was no evidence in the record that appellants’ steel bar was forged. On July 13, 2000, Commerce published its final results, classifying appellants’ steel bar in category 7214.10. Notice of Final Results and Partial Recission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews: Heavy Forged Hand Tools From the People’s Republic of China, 65 Fed. Reg. 43290 (July 13, 2000). On August 18, 2000, Commerce published amended results to correct a ministerial error and to classify appellants’ steel bar in category 7214.10.09 in order to exclude spring steel, which appellants did not use. Heavy Forged Hand Tools From the People’s Republic of China; Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews, 65 Fed. Reg. 50499 (Aug. 18, 2000).

Appellants filed suit in the Court of International Trade to challenge classification of their steel bar in category 7214.10.09. The Court of International Trade affirmed Commerce’s classification. Shandong, 159 F.Supp.2d at 723. However, the court noted that the

evidence relied upon by Commerce is not overwhelming. The record evidence cited provides little more than the barest support for Commerce’s conclusions .... The Court likely would have reached a different conclusion had this case been reviewed de novo. Nevertheless, despite its tenuous nature, the Court must conclude that in toto there is more than a “mere scintilla” of evidence supporting Commerce’s determination.

Id. at 722-23. On appeal, appellants again argue that Commerce’s decision is not supported by substantial evidence.

“When reviewing antidumping determinations made by Commerce, this court applies anew the standard of review applied by the Court of International Trade in its review of the administrative record.” Pesquera Mares Australes Ltda. v. United States, 266 F.3d 1372, 1379 (Fed.Cir.2001). Commerce’s determinations should be sustained unless they are “unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or are otherwise not in accordance with law.” Id.; 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(l)(B)(i) (2000). Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Consol. Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938).

The record evidence supporting Commerce’s classification is as follows. On April 19, 1999, Commerce sent appellants questionnaires which included a request for a description of “each type and grade of material used in the production process.” Commerce sent various supplemental questions to the appellants on November 19, 1999, and March 9, 2000. The responses to Commerce’s questions indicate that LMC uses “scrap railroad wheels,” Shandong uses “steel designated as #45 or 1045 carbon steel,” and TMC uses “1045 carbon steel” to make the subject merchandise. Commerce also sent questionnaires to Shandong Machinery [799]*799Import & Export Corporation (“SMC”), who is not a party to this appeal. SMC stated that it used “1045 carbon steel.” Commerce then verified the information provided by SMC and TMC. During a tour of SMC’s supplier factory, Commerce reviewed certain invoices, which showed that the 1045 carbon steel bar reported by SMC was classified under HTS category 7214.10. Based on this information, Commerce concluded that the 1045 steel bar used by appellants should likewise be classified under category 7214.10.

Appellants argue that there is no evidence in the record that they actually use forged steel, as stated in the description of category 7214.10. This particular issue was discussed at the April 19, 2000, administrative hearing, when one of the hearing examiners stated:

I was wondering if you could please comment on why you think this category is not appropriate or why you do not think it is the best available information when we have verified one of the factories that used this input to produce [the] subject merchandise.

Appellants responded that there is no record that these are forged bars.

Hs ❖ H* Hi H<
I think the question is, is the bar that is being used by the heavy forged hand tools, is that forged or not. In the spirit of honesty and cooperation, and so on, I would say that, on the record, I can’t say that it says it is forged. I can’t say that it is not forged, because I don’t think that question was ever asked, nor answered.

Appellants further argue that there is no need for their factories to use forged steel bars because the factories do the necessary forging themselves.

Appellants are correct that the record does not contain any direct evidence that they use forged steel. But neither does the record contain any direct evidence that appellants do not use forged steel. The evidence supporting Commerce’s classification is instead circumstantial, based on the fact that the 1045 carbon steel bar of another company was classified in category 7214.10.

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

Related

Tianjin Magnesium Int'l Co. v. United States
2026 CIT 28 (Court of International Trade, 2026)
Bio-Lab, Inc. v. United States
776 F. Supp. 3d 1315 (Court of International Trade, 2025)
Evolutions Flooring, Inc. v. United States
776 F. Supp. 3d 1271 (Court of International Trade, 2025)
Hoa Phat Steel Pipe Co. v. United States
755 F. Supp. 3d 1337 (Court of International Trade, 2025)
Wheatland Tube v. United States
755 F. Supp. 3d 1304 (Court of International Trade, 2025)
Ashley Furniture Indus., LLC v. United States
750 F. Supp. 3d 1329 (Court of International Trade, 2024)
Risen Energy Co. v. United States
2023 CIT 48 (Court of International Trade, 2023)
Zhejiang Mach. Imp. & Exp. Corp. v. United StatesPublic version posted 08/21/2020.
471 F. Supp. 3d 1313 (Court of International Trade, 2020)
Fischer S.A. Comercio, Industria and Agricultura v. United States
885 F. Supp. 2d 1366 (Court of International Trade, 2012)
Sgl Carbon LLC v. United States
819 F. Supp. 2d 1352 (Court of International Trade, 2012)
American Signature, Inc. v. United States
598 F.3d 816 (Federal Circuit, 2010)
Ningbo Dafa Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. v. United States
580 F.3d 1247 (Federal Circuit, 2009)
Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. v. United States
395 F. Supp. 2d 1231 (Court of International Trade, 2005)
Timken U.S. Corp. v. United States
318 F. Supp. 2d 1271 (Court of International Trade, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 F. App'x 797, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shandong-huarong-general-group-corp-v-united-states-cafc-2003.