Trade Court Upholds AD, CVD Cases in 2 Opinions

The Court of International Trade in a pair of opinions upheld the Commerce Department's final results in the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large diameter welded pipe from Greece and in the 2019 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea.

In the CVD case, Judge Mark Barnett sustained Commerce's method for setting the adequacy of remuneration as it relates to the provision of electricity in South Korea. The judge said Commerce legally analyzed whether the Korean Electric Power Corp.'s tariff rates were set in line with market principles via its evaluation of whether KEPCO's income from its prices charged for each consumption category covers its costs plus profits for each category.

In the AD case, Judge Leo Gordon said Commerce did not unreasonably change its methodology when it changed the response to Corinth Pipeworks Pipe Industry's margin from zero to total adverse facts available given that Corinth's reported costs were not reconciled to its normal books and records. Gordon also upheld the agency's use of total AFA given "crucial nature of the information" deemed missing.