New Vietnamese Frozen Fish Shipper Received 0% AD Off Sample Sale, Trade Group Claims

A new Vietnamese frozen fish fillet exporter didn’t actually make a bona fide sale in the U.S. during the period of a new shipper antidumping review, a domestic trade group said Aug. 23 (Catfish Farmers of America v. U.S., CIT # 24-00126).

Trade group Catfish Farmers of America brought an action to the Court of International Trade contesting the final results of the 2022-2023 new shipper review. The Commerce Department initiated the review after a request by Vietnamese exporter Co May Import Export Company, Catfish Farmers said, granting the exporter a de minimis dumping rate.

But Co May and its U.S customer “for the sale that formed the basis for the review” hadn’t cooperated with the proceedings and had filed untimely new factual information, the trade group said. And it accused the exporter of misrepresenting or failing to verify certain information.

It also alleged that the goods weren’t resold for a profit by the U.S. customer. Rather, it said, it was a sample sale “of the kind that the agency traditionally considered non-bona fide, and otherwise unreflective of normal commercial practices and likely future sales.”

“Commerce found that the U.S. customer had resold the goods at a profit, notwithstanding the fact that the resale price was lower than the duty-inclusive price at which the U.S. customer purchased the goods from Co May,” it said.