Sucocitrico Cutrale Ltda. v. United States

2012 CIT 71
United States Court of International Trade·Decided June 1, 2012·No. 10-00261·Published

Opinion

Slip Op. 12-71

UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -x SUCOCITRICO CUTRALE LTDA. : AND CITRUS PRODUCTS INC., :

Plaintiffs, :

:

v. : Before: Richard W. Goldberg, Senior Judge : Court No. 10-00261

:

UNITED STATES, : PUBLIC VERSION Defendant, :

:

and :

:

FLORIDA CITRUS MUTUAL, : CITRUS WORLD, INC., SOUTHERN : GARDENS CITRUS : PROCESSING CORPORATION, and : A. DUDA & SONS, INC., :

:

Defendant-Intervenors. :

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OPINION

[Plaintiff’s Motion for Judgment on the Agency Record under USCIT Rule 56.2 is granted in part and denied in part.]

Dated: June 1, 2012

Christopher Allen Dunn and Matthew Paul McCullough, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, of Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs.

Joshua Ethan Kurland, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, of Washington, D.C., for defendant. With him on the brief were Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, Jeanne E. Davidson, Director, and Franklin E. White, Assistant Director. Of counsel on the brief was George Kivork, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, of Washington, D.C.

Matthew Thomas McGrath and Stephen William Brophy, Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, of Washington D.C., for defendant-intervenors Florida Citrus Mutual and Citrus World, Inc.

Court No. 10-00261 Page 2 Goldberg, Senior Judge: Plaintiffs Sucocitrico Cutrale Ltda. (“Cutrale”) and its affiliated importer, Citrus Products, Inc. (CPI) (collectively, “Plaintiffs” or “Cutrale”) contest the final results of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) antidumping duty determination. Plaintiffs challenge Commerce’s factual findings and legal conclusions in the administrative review of the antidumping order on Certain Orange Juice from Brazil. See Certain Orange Juice from Brazil, 75 Fed. Reg. 50,999 (Dep’t Commerce Aug. 18, 2010) (Final Results).

For the reasons discussed below, Plaintiffs’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

The Court remands the Final Results to Commerce for reconsideration of its decision to zero when calculating Fischer’s dumping margin. The Court affirms Commerce’s decisions with respect to the remaining issues. BACKGROUND Cutrale is a Brazilian company that produces orange juice concentrate for the U.S.

market. On April 27, 2009, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1675 (a)(2)(B), Commerce initiated a review of its antidumping duty order concerning orange juice from Brazil for the period of March 1, 2008 to February 28, 2009. See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews and Request for Revocation, 74 Fed. Reg. 19,042 (Dep’t Commerce Apr. 27, 2009). On April 13, 2012 Commerce published the preliminary results of the review. See Certain Orange Juice from Brazil, 75 Fed. Reg. 18,794 (Dep’t Commerce Apr. 13, 2010) (Preliminary Results).

On May 14, 2010, Cutrale filed an administrative case brief challenging, among other things, Commerce’s decision to zero despite adverse World Trade Organization (WTO) rulings. However, at that time Cutrale did not specifically argue that Commerce’s policy of zeroing in

Court No. 10-00261 Page 3 administrative reviews, but not in investigations, was based on an impermissibly inconsistent statutory interpretation. Commerce rejected all of Cutrale’s protests and issued the Final Results on August 18, 2010. See Final Results, 75 Fed. Reg. 50,999. JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to section 201 of the Customs Court Act of 1980, 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (2006).

This Court must “uphold Commerce’s determination unless it is ‘unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law.’” Micron Tech., Inc. v. United States, 117 F.3d 1386, 1393 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (quoting 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(1)(B)(i) (1994)). When reviewing agency determinations, findings, or conclusions for substantial evidence, this Court determines whether the agency action is reasonable in light of the entire record. See Nippon Steel Corp. v. United States, 458 F.3d 1345, 1350–51 (Fed. Cir. 2006). This Court affords Commerce’s factual finding a tremendous amount of deference. See INS v. Elias- Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483–84 (1992) (stating that in fact-intensive situations, agency conclusions should be reversed only if the record contains evidence “so compelling that no reasonable factfinder” could reach the same conclusion). DISCUSSION Under the current antidumping law, Commerce imposes antidumping duties “on imported merchandise that is being sold, or is likely to be sold, in the United States at less than fair value to the detriment of a domestic industry.” Micron Tech., Inc. v. United States, 243 F.3d 1301, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (citing 19 U.S.C. § 1673). The “dumping margin,” which is the amount of the duty to be imposed, “is the amount by which the price charged for the subject merchandise in

the home market (the ‘normal value’) exceeds the price charged in the United States (the ‘U.S. price’).” Id. (citing 19 U.S.C. §§ 1673, 1677(25)(A)). Where, as here, the foreign producer sells directly to an affiliated purchaser in the United States, Commerce must calculate a constructed export price (CEP) to use as the U.S. price for purposes of comparison. 19 U.S.C. § 1677a(b). Thus, Commerce treated all of Cutrale’s U.S. sales as constructed export price (CEP) sales because Cutrale sells directly to its U.S. affiliate CPI. 19 U.S.C. §1677a(b).

Cutrale produces only for export to the United States and does not sell goods in its home market. Thus, there is no “normal value” of goods in the home market or in any third country for Commerce to compare with the CEP. In this situation, Commerce calculates a “constructed value” of goods in the home market to compare with the CEP. 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(a)(4). Commerce must “consider all available evidence on the proper allocation of costs.” Id. § 1677b(f)(1)(A). The statute does not provide specific guidance on the calculation of financial expenses. Therefore, Commerce has broad discretion to devise a method for calculating “general expenses.” Am. Silicon Techs. v. United States, 334 F.3d 1033, 1037 (Fed. Cir. 2003).

Cutrale raises seven issues on appeal: (1) whether Commerce’s decision to zero in this administrative review is unreasonable and not in accordance with law; (2) whether Commerce’s determination to exclude excess revenue Cutrale received from fees charged for port charges and other expenses is in accordance with law; (3) whether Commerce improperly determined that, because there is not a “substantial difference” between Cutrale’s in the level of trade between the home and U.S. markets, Cutrale is not entitled to a CEP offset; (4) whether Commerce improperly used brix levels calculated to the hundredth of a degree in determining sales prices and quantities; (5) whether Commerce improperly decided to calculate CPI’s cost of holding

Court No. 10-00261 Page 5 inventory in the United States based on the cost of financing in Brazil; (6) whether, in determining the cost of production, Commerce improperly valued oranges received by Cutrale from affiliated parties; and (7) whether Commerce improperly deducted byproduct sales revenue when calculating Cutrale’s general and administrative financial expense ratios.

I. Commerce must change or explain its inconsistent policy with respect to zeroing Cutrale challenges Commerce’s decision to zero when it calculated Cutrale’s constructed export price during the administrative review. Plaintiffs request that the Court either remand this case to Commerce to explain its inconsistent statutory interpretation or require recalculation of Cutrale’s dumping margin zeroing.

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