Petitions Filed for New AD Duties on Raw Honey

Two domestic producer coalitions filed petitions April 20 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on raw honey from Argentina, Brazil, India, Ukraine and Vietnam. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD duty investigations on raw honey from these four countries. The American Honey Producers Association and the Sioux Honey Association.

An AD duty order has been in place on honey from China has been in place since 2000, and antidumping and countervailing duty orders were issued at the same time on Argentina, but subsequently revoked in 2012. The scope of the AD duty order on honey from China is more broad than that of this petition, covering both natural and artificial honey, as well as comb honey and honey in packaging.

Proposed Scope

The merchandise covered by these petitions is raw honey. Raw honey is honey as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling and skimming, or coarse straining. Raw honey has not been filtered to a level that results in the removal of most or all of the pollen. The subject products include all grades, floral sources and colors of raw honey and also includes organic raw honey.

Excluded from the scope is comb honey or honey that is packaged for retail sale (e.g., in bottles or other retail containers of five (5) lbs or less).

The merchandise subject to this order is currently classifiable under statistical subheading 0409.0000.05, 0409.0000.35, 0409.0000.45, 0409.0000.56, and 0409.0000.65 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this order is dispositive.

Commerce Accepting Comments on Petition Support

The Commerce Department is accepting comments on domestic industry support for the petitions to determine whether the petitions meet the dual requirements of support by domestic producers or workers accounting for (1) at least 25% of the total production of the domestic-like product and (2) more than 50% of the production of the domestic-like product produced by that portion of the industry expressing support for, or opposition to, the petition. If the petitions meet these requirements, among others, Commerce will initiate an antidumping duty investigation. Comments are due May 10.