CIT Remands China Ironing Tables AD Review for Labor Rate Re-do
Chinese producer/exporter Since Hardware (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. and domestic petitioner Home Products International, Inc. challenged the results of the August 2007 - July 2008 AD administrative review of floor-standing, metal-top ironing tables from China. The Court of International Trade directed the International Trade Administration to recalculate the surrogate value for labor (as the labor rate data had excluded India), but upheld the ITA’s other determinations.
Chinese plaintiff Since Hardware had unsuccessfully contested the ITA’s (i) use of “overly broad” six-digit HTS categories, rather than 10-digit categories,(ii) use of published value data for “metal fabricated products” rather than “manufacture of metal furniture,” and (iii) selection of Indian surrogate companies for financial expense and profit ratios.1
Domestic producer Home Products had challenged the ITA’s use of market economy purchase prices for Since Hardware’s carton purchases instead of surrogate country prices, but the CIT upheld the ITA on this issue.
1The ITA had rejected Since Hardware’s case brief, following the preliminary results, because it was filed past the deadline, with the result that the argument on surrogate company selection did not appear in the record of the review. Therefore, the CIT dismissed the complaint on the selection of financial surrogates as untimely.
(Slip Op. 12-4 dated 01/06/12)