Qingdao Sea-line Trading Co. v. United States, No. 13-1581 (Fed. Cir. 2014)
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The Department of Commerce conducted new shipper review, at Sea-line’s request, on an outstanding 1994 antidumping order on fresh garlic imports from China. New shipper review covers an importer or producer that was not subject to an initial antidumping duty investigation and thinks it is entitled to an individual anti-dumping duty margin, 19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(2), and covers imports after the review period for the initial investigation. Commerce conducted Sea-line’s review for the period of November 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009. Because China is a non-market economy, Commerce used surrogate values from a comparable market economy (India), relying on price data from the APMC Bulletin, which reports daily prices in India for garlic bulbs of various “grades.” Sea-line reported bulbs in the grade Super A category. The APMC Bulletin did not report any prices for grade Super A bulbs for the period of review. Commerce averaged the closest available data points for grade Super A garlic, which was for November 2007 through April 2008 and applied the Wholesale Price Index for India published by the International Monetary Fund. Commerce calculated a “surrogate financial ratio” for general expenses, overhead, and profit by averaging financial statements of two Indian tea producers, reasoning that "tea, rice, and vegetable processing is similar to garlic because each is not highly processed or preserved prior to sale.” The Court of International Trade affirmed the final results and assignment of an antidumping duty. The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that the results were based on substantial evidence.
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