4 Honey Importers Rail Against ITC Critical Circumstances Finding Over Vietnamese Honey

Four honey importers -- Honey Solutions, Sunland Trading, Export Packers Co. and Sweet Harvest Foods -- filed four nearly identical complaints at the Court of International Trade on Aug. 4 arguing against the International Trade Commission's decision that led to the antidumping duty order on raw honey from Vietnam. The six-count complaints argue against that, contrary to the ITC's findings, the Vietnamese import volume has not jumped enough to undermine the remedial effect of the antidumping order such as to require a critical circumstances determination.

At the ITC, the commissioners found that imports subject to the affirmative critical circumstances finding are likely to undermine seriously the remedial effect of the AD order on Vietnam. As a result of the decision, honey from Vietnam was subject to 90 more days of retroactively-imposed duties. The four importers took to the trade court to contest this determination.

The companies all said that the increase in imports that the ITC observed in the comparison period used by the commission to evaluate critical circumstances was of a "similar magnitude to the increase in imports during the identical period the prior year ... were consistent with normal seasonal patterns, and otherwise did not strongly deviate from the expected import patterns." Much of these increased imports were "quickly sold off" into the U.S. market, negating any possibility that they undermined the AD order, the companies said.

The complaints went on to argue that the honey from Vietnam fills a different segment of the market than the domestically-made honey. Honey from Vietnam is used commercially while honey from the U.S. is primarily used in consumer markets, the briefs said. "Due to the different environment in the United States, the domestic industry is not able to meet these specific domestic demands from these clients, which was increasing due to response of the U.S. market to COVID and other factors," the brief said. "Thus, the imports of Vietnamese raw honey during the critical circumstances period were needed to fulfill increased demand that the U.S. producers were not able to fulfill." The lack of competition between the goods negates the need for a critical circumstances finding, the companies told the trade court.

The honey importers wrapped up the complaints by arguing that U.S. inventory levels were at a record low during the review period and that the evidence does not meet the "very high standard" to show that the imports have weakened or subverted the effects of the order.

(Sweet Harvest Foods v. U.S., CIT #22-00188) (Export Packers Co. Limited v. U.S., CIT #22-00189) (Sunland Trading v. United States, CIT #22-00192) (Honey Holding I v. U.S., CIT #22-00191)