Xanthan Gum Exporter Challenges Receipt of Partial AFA for Sales Dates Issue in AD Review
In a July 25 complaint to the Court of International Trade, Chinese xanthan gum exporter Deosen Biochemical (Ordos) alleged the Commerce Department’s 10th antidumping duty review of its products wrongly assigned it partial adverse facts available for a sales date disagreement (Deosen Biochemical v. United States, CIT # 25-00145).
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Deosen, a mandatory respondent in the administrative review, said it used as its U.S. sales dates the invoice dates of its affiliated importer, Deosen USA. It said it did so because, during the review period, it sent its products straight from its manufacturing facilities to unaffiliated customers of Deosen USA.; the goods didn’t stop in Deosen USA’s own warehouses, although the importer was responsible for the final deliveries.
In its questionnaire responses, it said it explained that “Deosen USA did not separately record the shipment date in the ordinary course of business, and Deosen USA’s invoice date approximated the date of delivery to final customers.”
During verification, Commerce raised the issue of sales dates “for the first time,” the exporter claimed. Then, in its final results, the department applied partial AFA to the exporter to calculate its sales’ credit expenses on the basis that Deosen had “withheld information on the shipment date from its factory in China.” As a result, Deosen’s AD margin increased from 1.56% to 6.46%.
Deosen argued in its complaint that it had acted to the best of its ability and that Commerce’s refusal to use Deosen’s sales dates wasn’t supported by substantial evidence.