Vinh Hoan Corp. v. United States
2017 CIT 81
Ct. Intl. Trade2017Background
- This case reviews Commerce’s second remand redetermination in the eighth antidumping administrative review of certain frozen fish fillets from Vietnam involving Vinh Hoan and others.
- Commerce had selected Indonesia as the primary surrogate country and used Indonesian import data to value factors of production (FOPs) including sawdust (HTS 4401.30) and rice husk (HTS 1213.00); it also valued fish-oil byproduct using Indonesian data but “capped” that value with a constructed value.
- The Court previously (Vinh Hoan I and II) remanded four issues: selection of sawdust and rice-husk surrogate values (SVs), Commerce’s construction of a fish-oil value instead of using record SVs, and the byproduct-offset methodology.
- On second remand Commerce: reopened the record and reaffirmed sawdust SV (Indonesian HTS 4401.30); determined Indonesian import HTS 1213.00 was aberrational and instead used Indonesian ICBS data for rice husk; retained a constructed fish-oil value (a “cap” built from FOPs); and found the byproduct-offset issue moot because no negative byproduct values remained.
- The Court sustained Commerce’s sawdust and rice-husk SV selections and its byproduct-offset calculation, but again remanded Commerce’s decision to construct a fish-oil value because Commerce failed to acknowledge and justify departing from its normal practice of selecting the best existing SV on the record.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surrogate value for sawdust (HTS 4401.30) | Sawdust SV is non-specific and includes higher value-added products; record shows aberrational/overbroad values | Indonesian import data is specific to Vinh Hoan’s pressed sawdust; POR AUVs not aberrational when compared to historical data | Court sustained Commerce’s sawdust SV after Commerce reopened record, explained specificity and compared POR AUVs to historical AUVs |
| Surrogate value for rice husk (HTS 1213.00) | Indonesian import data is non-specific, aberrationally high relative to other benchmarks and role of rice husk as fuel | Indonesian import/ICBS data satisfy SV criteria; ICBS preferred as primary-surrogate-country data reflecting factor-cost relationships | Court sustained Commerce’s choice to reject Indonesian HTS import data as aberrational and to use Indonesian ICBS data |
| Fish-oil byproduct valuation (constructed “cap” vs. existing SVs) | Commerce improperly replaced best available record SVs with a constructed value without acknowledging or justifying the departure | Commerce contends the import data would produce unreasonable results (e.g., refined oil prices) and that constructing a POR-specific value using Vinh Hoan’s FOPs is most representative | Court remanded again: sustained that Commerce used a constructed value but held Commerce must explain why constructed value is superior to existing record SVs or reconsider and select an existing SV |
| Byproduct-offset methodology (deducting absolute negative byproduct values) | Deducting negative byproduct values can increase normal value and conflicts with byproduct-offset logic | On remand, changes eliminated negative byproduct values; therefore prior calculation is moot | Court found the issue moot because remand changes removed negative byproduct values and sustained Commerce’s result as no party challenged it further |
Key Cases Cited
- QVD Food Co. v. United States, 658 F.3d 1318 (Fed. Cir.) (Commerce has discretion to choose best available information but must ground selection in statute and the purpose of accurate margins)
- CS Wind Vietnam Co. v. United States, 971 F. Supp. 2d 1271 (CIT) (discusses proper grounding of surrogate selection and accuracy of dumping margins)
- Rhone Poulenc, Inc. v. United States, 899 F.2d 1185 (Fed. Cir.) (judicial standard on administrative factfinding and substantial evidence review)
- Xinjiamei Furniture (Zhangzhou) Co. v. United States, 968 F. Supp. 2d 1255 (CIT) (review standard for redeterminations compliance with court remand)
- Nakornthai Strip Mill Public Co. v. United States, 587 F. Supp. 2d 1303 (CIT) (remand-procedure review and compliance principles)