Zhejiang DunAn Hetian Metal Co. v. United States

707 F. Supp. 2d 1355, 34 Ct. Int'l Trade 408, 34 C.I.T. 408, 2010 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 42
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedApril 19, 2010
DocketSlip Op. 10-41; Court 09-00217
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 707 F. Supp. 2d 1355 (Zhejiang DunAn Hetian Metal Co. 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
Zhejiang DunAn Hetian Metal Co. v. United States, 707 F. Supp. 2d 1355, 34 Ct. Int'l Trade 408, 34 C.I.T. 408, 2010 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 42 (cit 2010).

Opinion

PUBLIC VERSION

OPINION AND ORDER

POGUE, Judge.

This case involves a challenge to the United States Department of Commerce’s *1359 (“Commerce” or “the Department”) data choices and adjustments in its calculation of an antidumping (“AD”) duty on goods produced in a non-market economy (“NME”). Specifically, Plaintiff Zhejiang DunAn Hetian Metal Co., Ltd. (“DunAn”) challenges the Department’s data selection, use of partial adverse facts available (“AFA”), and scrap offset methodology in Commerce’s final affirmative determination AD duty order regarding frontseating service valves (“FSVs”) from the People’s Republic of China (“China”). 1

The court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c).

Currently before the court is DunAn’s USCIT R. 56.2 Motion for Judgment Upon the Agency Record.

Standard of Review

The statutory provision which supplies the standard for review for Commerce’s final determination requires that the court shall “hold unlawful any [agency] determination, finding, or conclusion found ... to be unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” Tariff Act of 1930, § 516A (b)(1)(B)©, 19 U.S.C. § 1516a (b)(1)(B)© (2006). 2 See also 19 U.S.C. §§ 1516a (a)(2)(A)(i)(II), 1516a (a)(2)(B)®; Huaiyin Foreign Trade Corp. (30) v. United States, 322 F.3d 1369, 1374 (Fed.Cir.2003).

Discussion

By its instant motion, DunAn seeks (1) recalculation of the Indian 3 import statistics used to value brass bar 4 *; (2) replacement of the labor wage rate — calculated in accordance with the Department’s regulatory regression analysis 5 — with an Indian labor rate of $0.21 per hour; (3) reversal of the Department’s application of partial AFA to DunAn’s December 2007 U.S. sales data and inventory carrying costs (“ICC”) 6 ; and (4) revision of the Department’s methodology for recognizing the value of DunAn’s recycled brass scrap.

The court will, in turn, analyze each of these values.

*1360 A. Commerce’s Selection of a Value for Brass Bar

Commerce’s selection of a value for brass bar is governed by 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c), which requires that Commerce choose data that is the “best available information” on the record. 7 Here, Commerce selected an average unit value (“AUV”) derived from the World Trade Atlas (“WTA”) 8 Indian import statistics for the POI. DunAn does not challenge Commerce’s use of the WTA data set in general or the particular HTS classification used. 9 Rather, DunAn argues that some aspects of the WTA data set are incorrect and should be eliminated. Specifically, DunAn challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support Commerce’s inclusion, in the WTA data, of brass bar values for Indian imports from France, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”). 10

The relevant WTA data for HTS 7407.21,10 “Bars of Brass” are as follows:

Country Quantity Value AUV (Kgs) (Rupees)

Sri Lanka_44,720 7,990,000 178.67

Malaysia_24,262 8,031,000 331.01

UAE_8,000 3,652,000 456.50

Germany_4,526 2,581,000 570.26

Japan_3,911 1,574,000 402.45

United Kingdom_3,380 1,779,000 526.33

Denmark_1,300 541,000 416.15

Netherlands_1,042 501,000 480.81

Singapore_392 487,000 1,242.35

France_261 374,000 1,432.95

United States 90 78,000 866.67

TOTAL_91,884 27,588,000 300.25

Petitioner’s Surrogate Value Comments Regarding Frontseating Service Valves from the People’s Republic of China, A-570-933, POI 7/01/07-12/31/07 (Sept. 29, 2008), Admin. R. Pub. Doe. 106, 11 at Ex. *1361 1A. See also Zhejiang DunAn Heitan’s First Surrogate Value Submission, A-570-933, POI 7/01/07-12/31/07 (Sept. 29, 2008), Admin. Pub. Doc. 107 (“DunAn’s First Surrogate Value Submission ”), at Ex. 3A. See also Antidumping Duty Investigation of Frontseating Service Valves from the People’s Republic of China: Factor Valuations for the Final Determination, A-570-933, POI 7/1/07-12/31/07 (Mar. 6, 2009), Admin. R. Pub. Doc. 227, at Attach. 3 (providing HTS classification for “Of copper-zinc base alloys (brass) ... Bars” as HTS 7407.21.10).

Failing to remove imports from France, Japan, and the UAE constituted error, according to DunAn, because other record evidence, ie., data from Infodrive India, 12 demonstrated that shipments from the above countries did not consist of brass 13 bar, and, thus, that WTA data as to the UAE, France, and Japan were flawed and unreliable.

The Infodrive India data as to France, Japan, and the UAE 14 are as follows:

HTS Code Actual Product Description Value Origin Qty (Kgs) (Rupees) AUV

Barre B33/25 H Q1.5MM 74072110 (Copper Bar) France 12.0 57091.02 4757.59

74072110 Bronze Bars (Aircraft Raw Materials for Defence Use) P.O.NO: 4160375 France 161.0 316566.20 1966.25

Beryllium Copper Flat Bar 74072110 (TK46267) Japan 3589.5 1444719.91 402.49

Beryllium Copper Round Bar 74072110 (TK46268) Japan 322.0 129600.17 402.49

*1362 74072110 Cupro Nickel Bar_UAE_8110.0 3652206.74 450500.40

Second Surrogate Value Submission of Zhejiang DunAn Heitan (“DunAn”): Investigation of Frontseating Service Valves from the People’s Republic of China, A-570-933, POI 7/1/07-12/31/07 (Dec. 15, 2008), Admin. R. Pub. Doc. 189 (“Du-nAn’s Second Surrogate Value Submission ”), at Ex. 2. DunAn stresses that copper bar, bronze 15 bar, beryllium

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707 F. Supp. 2d 1355, 34 Ct. Int'l Trade 408, 34 C.I.T. 408, 2010 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zhejiang-dunan-hetian-metal-co-v-united-states-cit-2010.