CVD Petitioner Contests Commerce's Benchmark Data for Natural Gas for LTAR in CVD Review

The Commerce Department unreasonably selected data from Kazakhstan's Bureau of Natural Statistics data to use as a tier two benchmark regarding the provision of natural gas for less than adequate remuneration, countervailing duty petitioner The Mosaic Co. argued in a Dec. 28 complaint (The Mosaic Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00247).

Taking to the Court of International Trade, Mosaic said Commerce instead should have used data from the International Energy Agency that contained Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development natural gas prices for Europe, along with corresponding taxes. In the 2020-21 CVD review of phospate fertilizers from Russia, Commerce looked at these two sets of data as "potential tier two benchmarks on the existence of natural bags pipelines through which gas could be exported to Russia."

The agency said that natural gas from Europe wouldn't be available to Russian buyers because the natural gas pipelines linking Europe and Russia are not "bi-directional." As a result, the agency struck the European export prices in the IEA data as not viable for a tier two benchmark price. Commerce then tapped the Kazakh data since the Kazakh natural gas was sold to Russian buyers.

Mosaic argued administratively that "Kazakh natural gas data are not ... suitable as a tier two benchmark because Russian purchasers do not have access to a world market price for processed Kazakh natural gas comparable to the gas provided by the GOR for LTAR." The petitioner added that the customs classification subheading Commerce used for natural gas is actually for gas "that is not sold to the population in Russia."