The Court of International Trade on Aug. 18 dismissed a lawsuit filed by the maker of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and other importers to challenge an Enforce and Protect Act determination that they evaded antidumping duties on xanthan gum from China. The trade court found the soapmaker, All One God Faith, as well as another importer did not file suit under jurisdiction provisions for denied protests, and so could not overcome the erroneous liquidation of their entries by CBP.

The Commerce Department erred in using a period of review-wide allocation for the certification expenses of Thai exporter Sahamitr Pressure Container (SMPC), SMPC said in an Aug. 16 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade (Sahamitr Pressure Container v. United States, CIT #22-00107).

The Commerce Department did give a Chinese cabinet exporter a fair chance when it continued to rely on adverse facts available despite a court order that invalidated the agency’s original reasoning for the AFA rate, the exporter said in an Aug. 15 brief opposing Commerce’s remand results (Dalian Meisen Woodworking v. U.S., CIT # 20-00109).

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 18 dismissed a lawsuit filed by the maker of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and other importers to challenge an Enforce and Protect Act determination that they evaded antidumping duties on xanthan gum from China. The trade court found the soapmaker, All One God Faith, as well as another importer did not file suit under jurisdiction provisions for denied protests, and so could not overcome the erroneous liquidation of their entries by CBP.

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 18 upheld the Commerce Department’s decision to apply facts available to production costs for a French steel plate exporter unable to distinguish between costs for its prime and non-prime merchandise, but again remanded the agency’s determination to use sales prices as a stand-in. Ruling on remand results filed by Commerce in response a Federal Circuit decision on its AD duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from France, the trade court found Commerce did not adequately explain its continued reliance on sales data for the non-prime plate, which are rejects from the production process that aren’t up to standard. CIT did agree with Commerce that the agency may rely on facts available because Dillinger’s lack of data on production costs for producing the non-prime plate affects how costs are allocated for all of the exporter’s merchandise.

A Commerce Department scope ruling improperly found that two-ply hardwood plywood falls under the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China, plaintiffs Vietnam Finewood, Far East American and Liberty Woods said in an Aug. 16 motion at the Court of International Trade (Vietnam Finewood Company Ltd. v. U.S., CIT #22-00049).

Adverse facts available applied to Hyundai's reporting of parts in an antidumping duty administrative review on Korean power transformers are still warranted despite a previous court remand, the Commerce Department said in the results of a remand published Aug. 15 (Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co. v. United States, CIT #20-00108). Commerce said that although facts available are not justifiable with respect to Hyundai’s reporting of parts and components, it will still apply total adverse facts available to Hyundai.

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 16 remanded the Commerce Department's cost calculations for a Brazilian paper manufacturer during the third administrative review of the antidumping duty order on uncoated paper from Brazil (Suzano S.A. v. United States, CIT #21-00069).

Plaintiffs in an antidumping duty case will appeal a Court of International Trade decision upholding the rate calculated for non-individually investigated respondents in an antidumping duty administrative review on steel nails from Taiwan (see 2206170040). PrimeSource Building Products and consolidated plaintiffs Cheng Ch International Co., Ltd., China Staple Enterprise Corporation, De Fasteners Inc., Hoyi Plus Co., Ltd., Liang Chyuan Industrial Co., Ltd., Trim International Inc., UJL Industries Co., Ltd., Yu Chi Hardware Co., Ltd., and Zon Mon Co., Ltd. will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to two notices of appeal filed Aug. 12. In the June 16 opinion, the trade court found the plaintiffs did not provide enough evidence to to establish that the expected method -- the practice of averaging adverse facts available rates in the absence of non-AFA, zero or de minimis margins -- should not be used (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S. CIT #20-03911).

Nucor Corporation, both consolidated plaintiff and defendant-intervenor in a countervailing duty case, is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a lower court ruling that the Commerce Department properly found that electricity was not provided below cost in South Korea, in an investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (see 2206130054), it said Aug. 12. Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that both issues previously remanded by the Federal Circuit -- Commerce's reliance on the preferential-rate standard and its failure to address the Korean Power Exchange's (KPX's) impact on the South Korean electricity market as rendering cost-recovery analysis -- now comply with the appellate court's ruling (POSCO v. United States, CIT Consol. #16-00227).