Commerce Defends Methodology to Find Protein Content of Italian Pasta in AD Case at CIT

Italian pasta exporters La Molisana and Valdigrano di Flavio Pagani have not provided "compelling reasons" for the Commerce Department to part with its "longstanding" and "reasonable" practice for reporting the protein content of pasta in an antidumping case, the U.S. told the Court of International Trade in a March 28 brief. Rather, the relevant statute, past agency practice and case law all show that Commerce properly based its product-matching criteria on physical characteristics. In doing so, the agency said it legally derived the pasta's protein content -- a physical characteristic -- from the nutrition information on the packaging label (La Molisana v. United States, CIT Consol. #21-00291).

The case concerns the 23rd administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain pasta from Italy. During the review, Commerce asked for the protein content of the mandatory repsondents' pasta as stated on the product label. However, La Molisana argued that "due to the nature of the nutrition facts panel ... this is not necessarily an accurate representation of the Protein Content." The exporter told Commerce that different protein measurement calculation methodologies between Italy and the U.S. ended in different protein content percentages. Valdigrano raised a similar concern.

In all, the exporters said that the instructions for reporting the protein content "are so flawed that they require revision." Commerce found no such problem, however, stating that relying on values not included on the label for the protein content would detract from the consistency of defining each product, which could compromise the accuracy of the product comparisons.

DOJ told CIT that the plaintiffs do not establish compelling reasons for the agency to part with its methodology. "Pasta is a consumer product and its value is conveyed by the label, not the molecular composition," the brief said. "As such, Commerce reasonably concluded that there was insufficient basis for finding the discrepancy in protein measurement standards between the United States and Italian markets commercially significant when the market perception of premium pasta or nonpremium pasta relies on information readily available to consumers, namely the packaging label associated with the pasta in the marketplace."