CIT Remands Grant of CEP Offset, Says Commerce Failed to Notify Exporters of Deficiencies

The Commerce Department did not satisfy its statutory obligations to tell antidumping duty respondents their submissions were deficient ahead of granting constructed export price adjustments, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 3 opinion. Remanding the 2019-20 review of the AD order on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea, Judge Timothy Reif said the agency should provide the mandatory respondents with notice of their deficiencies and give them a chance to explain them.

In the review, Commerce granted mandatory respondents Hyundai Steel Co. and Husteel Co. a CEP offset despite the agency's finding that neither company provided an "adequate quantitative analysis" in response to Commerce's request for information. The agency said the respondents failed to provide an adequate analysis of the "differences in levels of intensity" concerning the "selling activities reported in" each firm's selling functions chart. The respondents also failed to show how expenses assigned to sales at different levels of trade affected price comparability.

Commerce granted the offset on the grounds that it failed to give the respondents a chance to remedy the deficiencies. Acknowledging that, the court ordered the parties to show cause as to why it shouldn't just remand the decision (see 2306130018). Petitioner Wheatland Tube said it doesn't disagree with the remand "in principle" but asked that the court explain the features of the case that support this action. The U.S. also said it wouldn't oppose the remand, while Hyundai Steel urged the court to sustain the agency's decision.

(Wheatland Tube v. U.S., Slip Op. 23-112, CIT # 22-00160, dated 08/03/23; Judge: Timothy Reif; Attorneys: Roger Schagrin of Schagrin Associates for Wheatland Tube; Robert Kiepura for defendant U.S. government; Jarrod Goldfeder of Trade Pacific for Hyundai; Jeffrey Winton of Winton & Chapman for SeAH Steel Corp.; J. David Park of Arnold & Porter for Nexteel Co.; Brady Mills of Morris Manning for Husteel Co.)