On Friday, the Court of International Trade issued an order requiring the U.S. Department of Commerce to further consider the revocation of the antidumping duty order on Chinese shrimp with regard to shipments from Zhanjiang Regal Integrated Marine Resources Company, Limited (Regal).
As part of the seventh administrative review of the antidumping duty order on Chinese shrimp, Regal petitioned Commerce to revoke the order as to its shipments based on its claim of having sold shrimp in the U.S. market at fair value for three consecutive years. The Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee (AHSTAC) objected to Regal’s request, noting discrepancies in the sales reported by the Chinese exporter and the volumes of imports claimed to be subject to antidumping duties by U.S. importers. AHSTAC also requested that Commerce correct the methodology used to determine whether Regal dumped shrimp into the U.S. market in 2009.
In 2013, Commerce granted Regal’s request over AHSTAC’s objections, exempting the company from the antidumping duty order on Chinese shrimp. AHSTAC appealed Commerce’s decision at the Court of International Trade. Although it dismissed AHSTAC’s claims regarding discrepancies in Regal’s sales, the Court faulted Commerce for using values derived from India to determine whether Regal dumped shrimp into the U.S. market in 2009, while using values from Thailand to determine whether Regal dumped shrimp into the U.S. market in 2010 and 2011. In deciding to use India rather than Thailand to evaluate 2009 sales, the Court found that “Commerce focused on minute, seemingly hair-splitting differences.” The Court also found that Commerce ignored evidence presented by AHSTAC indicating that values from Thailand were more appropriate given the facts presented in the proceeding.
The Court concluded that Commerce’s “reliance in this revocation proceeding upon its original fifth review analysis of surrogate dataset alternatives is not supported by substantial evidence, and must therefore be remanded for reconsideration.” The Court ordered Commerce to issue “remand results” discussing and explaining its reconsideration by July 17th.
Commerce may decide that even after reconsideration, revocation of the antidumping duty order with respect to Regal is appropriate. Alternatively, the agency may re-evaluate Regal’s sales in 2009 to determine whether the company’s claim of making sales at fair value for three consecutive years remains accurate under a corrected analysis.
Separately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported today that Regal has now met the criteria for exclusion from the Import Alert on Chinese aquacultured seafood (Import Alert #16-131) for its shipment of shrimp. Accordingly, Regal is currently permitted to ship shrimp to the U.S. market free of any antidumping duty liability and without the application of the FDA’s Import Alert.
Read the Court of International Trade’s decision in Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. United States, Slip Op. 15-53 (June 5, 2015) here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Regal-Decision-CIT.pdf