Petitioners and Exporters Clash Over AD Review of Mattresses From Indonesia

Petitioners and mattress exporters filed two motions for judgment in two similar cases, both challenging the results of the 2020-2022 antidumping duty review of mattresses from Indonesia. The exporters said that their constructed value had been miscalculated, while the petitioner argued that the exporters’ products were not mattress toppers and didn't fit under that exclusion (PT Ecos Jaya Indonesia v. U.S., CIT # 24-00001; Brooklyn Bedding v. U.S., CIT # 24-00002).

The Commerce Department constructed a value for affiliated exporters PT Ecos Jaya Indonesia and PT Grantec Jaya Indonesia, a mandatory respondent in the review, by averaging the financial records of two surrogates, Ecos and Grantec said (see 2402050061).

However, it made a calculation error in regard to one, Masterfoam, when it excluded investment-related items from Masterfoam’s profit ratio without doing the same to the COGS denominator of its profit and selling expense ratio, the exporters said. They said Ecos and Grantec submitted a ministerial correction, but that Commerce rejected it and released its final results with the error intact.

They also argued that the other surrogate, Kurlon Enterprise, didn't produce similar enough products to serve as a stand-in for their own costs. Kurlon’s financial data, they said, revealed “substantial dissimilar business operations and sales channels” compared with their own.

The petitioners, led by Brooklyn Bedding, argued that Ecos and Grantec’s tri-folded mattresses weren't “mattress toppers” and didn't fall into an exclusion for mattress toppers carved out by the AD order (see [Ref:2402060047). It pointed out that tri-folding mattresses analyzed during the underlying investigation -- and found to be in scope -- were identical to Ecos' and Grantec’s products in all applicable ways except for height; Ecos' and Grantec’s mattresses are 4 inches in height.

It called Ecos' and Grantec’s labeling of its products “inconsistent” and said that the fact the exporters sometimes label their mattresses as “toppers” doesn't mean the products actually are toppers.

It also argued that the mattresses are not toppers because they are not sized to fit traditional mattresses.

Finally, it argued that another of Ecos' and Grantec’s products, foam mattress floor sofas, don't satisfy another exclusion for “multifunctional furniture” because the products lack the framing furniture requires, they said.