The International Trade Administration issued the initiation and preliminary results of its antidumping duty changed circumstances review of non-malleable cast iron pipe fittings from China (A-570-875), in response to a request by Ford Motor Co. that the ITA revoke, in part, the AD order with respect to a particular brake fluid tube connector. The connector is a “joint block” for brake fluid tubes and is made of non-malleable cast iron to Society of Automotive Engineers (SEA) automotive standard J431. The ITA said the domestic industry has affirmatively expressed a lack of interest in the continuation of the order with respect to this product. Therefore, The ITA intends to revoke, in part, the AD order as it relates to imports of the connector described above from China.
A group of 16 U.S. Senators voiced concern over Mexican poultry antidumping policy, in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. At issue is preliminary results announced by the Mexican ministry that would impose duties on U.S. poultry ranging from 64% to 129%. The duties haven't yet been applied, but a final decision will have to be reached by August. According to the letter, the duty is based on the “average cost of production,” and uses a flawed assumption that every part of the chicken should be priced the same, which would mean premium parts would be valued at the same price as the chicken feet.
Coinstar shares closed up 7.29 percent at $65.78 Friday after the company said it expects to report stronger-than-expected results for Q1. It now expects to report revenue of $567 million-$569.2 million, up from the $530 million-$555 million estimate that it gave in February (CED Feb 8 p4) and higher than the $424.1 million in revenue that it reported for Q1 last year. The increased revenue was “driven by stronger than anticipated consumer demand” at Redbox throughout Q1, especially in February and March, “reflecting, in part, better than anticipated consumer acceptance” of the 20-cent price increase to $1.20 per DVD rental that was implemented in October, Coinstar said. The company also boosted its forecast for this year’s results, mainly due to “the strong” Q1 preliminary results and “additional learning on the impact of the price increase, as well as the extension of” Redbox’s content licensing deal with Universal, Coinstar said. It expects to report revenue of $2.2 billion-$2.3 billion for the year, up from $1.8 billion last year. Benchmark Capital said Friday it continues to see “strong potential” for Redbox. It cited NPD data showing Redbox increased its U.S. DVD rental market share last year. NPD said in January that Redbox’s share of DVD and Blu-ray movie rentals grew from 25 percent in 2010 to 37 percent in 2011, while Blockbuster’s share slid 6 percentage points to 17 percent.
Two months after the FCC’s declaratory ruling to “remind” carriers about the longstanding prohibition on traffic restriction, call completion problems aren’t getting any better, several rural carriers and state public utility commissioners told us. Call completion will remain a problem until the FCC actively enforces rules already on the books, they said, stressing the inability of state commissions to deal with problems that cross state lines. According to a survey by network and infrastructure company Anpi Zone presented Thursday at the “IP Solutions” conference in Indianapolis, more than 60 percent of ILEC and CLEC respondents said call-quality problems have either not improved or gotten worse since the declaratory ruling.
From April 4 to April 5, 2012, the Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:
World trade will grow 3.7% in 2012, but that's well below the 5% in 2011 and a sharp deceleration from the 2010 figure of 13.8%, according to a World Trade Organization report released April 12. WTO economists attributed the slowdown to the global economy losing momentum due to several shocks, including the European debt crisis.
The International Trade Administration issued the final results of its antidumping duty changed circumstances review of stainless steel plate in coils from Belgium (A-423-808). The ITA determined that Aperam Stainless Belgium N.V. is the successor-in-interest to ArcelorMittal Stainless Belgium N.V. As such, the ITA will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to apply the same AD cash deposit rate in effect for ArcelorMittal (6.57%) to all entries of subject merchandise from Aperam that were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after April 12, 2012.
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the April 12, 2012, Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration issued the preliminary results of its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on saccharin from China (A-570-878) for 12 manufacturer/exporters, which announce the ITA's intent to rescind the AD review with respect to one manufacturer/exporter, Kingchem LLC, due to a timely withdrawal of the Petitioner's request for administrative review with respect to Kingchem, find that the China-wide rate of 329.94% applies to the 4 reviewed China manufacturer/exporters1, and determine that the 6 reviewed third-country manufacturer/exporters2 will have AD rates applicable to their Chinese suppliers. These preliminary results are not in effect. The ITA may modify them in the final results of this review and change the estimated AD cash deposit rate for this company.
The International Trade Administration issued the final results an antidumping duty new shipper review of chlorinated isocyanurates from China (A-570-898), which sets an AD cash deposit rate of 2.66% for Heze Huayi Chemical Co. Ltd. The rate, which is effective April 12, 2012, is expected to be implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection soon.