CIT Sustains AD Review on Nails From Oman in Confidential Opinion

The Court of International Trade on Jan. 5 issued a confidential opinion sustaining the sixth antidumping duty review on steel nails from Oman. Oman Fasteners brought suit to contest the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available against the exporter for supposedly failing to submit all of its responses to Commerce's supplemental questionnaire by the deadline (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., CIT # 22-00348).

The trade court previously remanded the use of AFA, prompting the agency to reopen the record and allow Oman Fasteners to refile its responses and adjust the company's AD rate to zero (see 2307170036). On remand, the agency also reevaluated its use of an annual weighted-average cost and instead opted for a quarterly method, citing "significant variation" in costs during the period of review as well as a correlation between the changes in cost of manufacturing and average U.S. prices (see 2309250032).

In a letter to litigants, Judge M. Miller Baker said he will issue a public version of the opinion the week of Jan. 16. The judge gave parties until Jan. 12 to tell the court about any confidential information that needs to be redacted.