CIT Remands Market Price Data Source From 2010-11 China Steel Threaded Rod AD Review

The Court of International Trade on Feb. 6 ordered the Commerce Department to reconsider aspects of its 2010-11 antidumping duty administrative review on steel threaded rod from China (A-570-932). Chinese steel rod producers RMB Fasteners and IFI & Morgan, as well as their affiliated supplier Jiaxing Brother, had challenged the country chosen by Commerce to value their non-market inputs. When calculating home market prices in a non-market economy like China, Commerce constructs prices based on the market prices for inputs in a “surrogate country.” Commerce had chosen Thailand over the Philippines, resulting in a 19.68% AD duty rate. As a relatively less-developed country, choosing the Philippines would likely have resulted in lower input prices and cheaper constructed Chinese market prices, reducing the appearance of relative underpricing (i.e., dumping) in the U.S.as a result. CIT told Commerce to take another look at its choice of Thailand over the Philippines, citing aberrations in Thai data for some inputs used to make steel threaded rod.