Surrogate That Produces 'Comparable,' Not 'Identical,' Merchandise Is Still Accurate, US Says

The Commerce Department was right to use Brazilian, not Mexican, labor cost data when constructing a value for two Chinese exporters of stainless steel kegs, the U.S. said July 22 in response to defendant intervenors’ comments on the department’s results of a review after a third remand (New American Keg v. U.S., CIT # 20-00008).

The defendant-intervenors, exporters Ningbo Master International Trade and Guangzhou Jingye Machinery, argued that the Mexican cost data was better because Mexico produces identical products to the merchandise under review, while Brazil only produces “comparable” products.

The government agreed that this was true. But Commerce isn't restricted to only using the data of countries that produce identical products, it said, especially if there is something else wrong with that data.

In this case, Brazil’s inflator had been previously placed on the record, whereas Mexico’s hadn’t, it said. The agency tried to reopen the record to obtain Mexico’s during the second remand, but this decision was reversed as an abuse of discretion by Court of International Trade Judge M. Miller Baker, who found that the Brazilian information “was correct as a factual matter, so the agency’s reopening of the record because of the purported need for accurate data was not supported by substantial evidence."