CIT Faults Origin, Steel Values in China Ball Bearing AD Review

Chinese producer Peer Bearing Company - Changshan and The Timken Company, a domestic producer, challenged the final determination of the International Trade Administration in the June 2007 - May 2008 AD duty administrative review of ball bearings and parts thereof from China. Peer contested the ITA’s method of calculating duty assessments, its decision that bearings further manufactured in Thailand were still Chinese, and its valuation of steel bar inputs; Timken objected to a too-low value for steel wire rod inputs.

The Court of International Trade ordered the ITA to reconsider whether bearings that incurred 42% of manufacturing costs in Thailand were not substantially transformed and still remained Chinese-made. The court also ordered the agency to re-determine surrogate values for bearing-quality steel bar and wire rod, as requested by Peer and Timken, respectively, but dismissed Peer’s challenge to the assessment calculation method, reasoning that the ITA followed its normal practice and did not make over-assessments as Peer argued.

(Slip Op. 11-143, dated 11/21/11)