Plywood Importer Challenges Commerce's Anti-Circ Finding for Goods Made With Vietnamese Core

The Commerce Department improperly refused to accept relevant factual information submitted by importer Shelter Forest International Acquisition showing that its hardwood plywood was actually made in Vietnam and not China, Shelter Forest said in a complaint at the Court of International Trade. The importer said that its submissions show that its products imported from Vietnamese producer Lechenwood were made of hardwood plywood with a core made in Vietnam, thus excluding the goods from the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China per Commerce's own definition (Shelter Forest International Acquisition v. United States, CIT # 23-00144).

Commerce issued its preliminary determination in the anti-circumvention proceeding, which was conducted simultaneously with a scope ruling, on July 29, 2022, and found that Lechenwood did not provide a useable questionnaire response. That barred the manufacturer from certifying that it did not "export inquiry merchandise" -- a decision that "had both future and retroactive effects" since Shelter Forest's imports before the preliminary decision were subject to the AD/CVD duties, the complaint said.

Shelter Forest submitted information on Aug. 19, 2022, showing that the imports from Lechenwood were made of hardwood plywood with a core made in Vietnam. "Shelter Forest was thus barred from referencing this exculpatory evidence in subsequent filings to Commerce despite that fact that Commerce would not make a final determination for 335 days," the brief said.

In the same vein, Shelter Forest challenged Commerce's refusal to accept information submitted by various Vietnamese exporters, including Lechenwood, following the preliminary determination regarding deficiencies raised by Commerce, which the agency said stood as the basis to apply adverse facts available. The submissions were rejected as being untimely despite them coming 307 days before the final determination, the importer said.

The complaint also made claims against Commerce's use of AFA on Lechenwood, arguing that the agency "never informed Lechenwood of the nature of the deficiencies it had identified" in the company's questionnaire responses. Shelter Forest added that Commerce's "effective determination that Lechenwood" circumvented the AD/CVD orders by shipping the plywood from Vietnam that was within one of the production scenarios found to be going around the order was not supported.

The anti-circumvention inquiry looked at five different production scenarios in Vietnam, though none of them involved the production of hardwood plywood in Vietnam using a core veneer made in Vietnam, the complaint said. Shelter Forest said "there is no evidence in the record that suggests that Lechenwood did in fact export inquiry merchandise to the United States," since the basis for Commerce's adverse findings were unrelated to Lechenwood's actual production.