CIT Faults ITA’s Choice of Countries for Labor Rate in China Pencils AD Review

In remand results for the antidumping duty administrative review of certain cased pencils from China for the period of December 1, 2006 through November 30, 2007, the ITA revised its labor rate value for Chinese pencil manufacturers, using a more narrowly defined set of market economy countries at levels of economic development more comparable to that of China. Producer/exporter Shandong Rongxin Import & Export Co., Ltd. then argued that the ITA should use only a single country for wage rates, as it does for other factors of production, but the Court of International Trade ruled the complaint “groundless,” since using multiple countries for wage rates is specifically required by the agency’s regulations. However, the CIT found the ITA’s exclusion of detailed, relevant wage rate data for Indian wood products makers to be inconsistent and unjustified, and further dismissed as “absurd” the ITA’s decision to identify as “significant producers” a number of small countries with only nominal exports of pencils, such as the Maldives, with $67 of exports. The court accordingly remanded these aspects of the determination to the ITA. (Slip Op. 11-45, dated 04/21/11)