AD Petitioner Challenges LOT Price Adjustment Between US Price, Home Market Price in AD Review

The Commerce Department wrongly granted a price adjustment used in two antidumping duty respondents' margins for differences in levels of trade (LOT) between the U.S. constructed export price (CEP) sales and sales made in the home market of South Korea, AD petitioner Wheatland Tube argued in a May 27 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Wheatland Tube v. United States, CIT #22-00160).

Wheatland's case contests Commerce's final results in the administrative review of the AD order on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea in which Husteel Co. and Hyundai Steel Co. were respondents. During the review, the respondents requested an LOT adjustment between their U.S. CEP sales and sales made in the home market; Commerce granted the request for the adjustment.

However, Wheatland told Commerce that the agency adjusted its practice in granting LOT adjustments to require a respondent seeking the adjustment to give quantitative information showing that differences in the prices in the different LOTs were caused by those LOT differences and not other factors. While the agency agreed with Wheatland that Husteel and Hyundai had failed to do this, Commerce still granted the adjustment, leading to the lawsuit.

"Commerce’s practice and regulations require that a respondent seeking a price adjustment must fully bear the burden of providing full factual support for that adjustment, including a quantitative analysis showing the effect of LOT differences on price comparability in the case of a LOT adjustment," the brief said. "Commerce’s practice was fully known by respondents in this review. Despite recognizing that Husteel and Hyundai Steel failed to meet this burden and that the record lacked substantial evidence to support this price adjustment, Commerce granted the adjustments."