Dominican Producer Found Guilty of Evading AD/CVD Orders on Aluminum Extrusions From China

Dominican aluminum extrusion manufacturer Kingtom Aluminio is guilty of evading the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China, CBP said in a Feb. 4 evasion determination. Already party to two Enforce and Protect Act evasion inquiries as a producer, Kingtom was found guilty of evasion in a separate case where it acted as the importer of record. In fact, CBP used the fact that Kingtom began importing aluminum extrusions into the U.S. itself following the other two EAPA cases as evidence of Kingtom's alleged evasion.

"The data shows a direct correlation between the time when Kingtom began listing itself as the importer of record for its shipments to the United States, and CBP’s implementation of interim measures for EAPA investigations," CBP said.

The period of review for the investigations is Jan. 8, 2020, through Feb. 5, 022. CBP said that aluminum extrusion exports from China to the Dominican Republic grew drastically following the imposition of the AD/CVD orders on the subject merchandise from China. In 2019, the Dominican Republic saw over 38 million pounds of aluminum extrusions shipped in from China. This mark was 10% higher than the number of exports from 2018, 37% higher than 2017's number and 39% higher than 2016's number.

"Evidence on the record shows that the timing and volume of Kingtom’s shipments of extrusions to the United States directly coincide with the Dominican Republic’s recognition and initiation of trade relations with China and indicate a marked increase in the volume of aluminum extrusions imported into the Dominican Republic from China, which exceeds the Dominican Republic’s consumption demands," CBP said.

The question left for CBP to answer was one of Kingtom's capacity to make aluminum extrusions. CBP said Kingtom actually produces some aluminum extrusions, but had doubts that the manufacturer has enough capacity to make the amount of the subject merchandise it currently ships to the U.S. To that extent, CBP relied on the prior two EAPA cases involving Kingtom that found that it didn't, noting overlap between the investigation periods.

CBP also looked to Kingtom's affiliation with China as evidence of evasion. Per the Dominican company's own responses to CBP, the manufacturer is wholly owned by Chinese nationals located in the Dominican Republic. During a site visit, CBP further observed that Kingtom's facility has a dormitory for the Chinese nationals who live on site along with a "bamboo garden surrounding a pond with a bridge with three flag poles flying Kingtom’s flag, Dominican Republic flag, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Flag" in front of the administration building.