International Trade Today is a service of Warren Communications News.

Appeals Court OKs Denial of Interest Offset in Thai Shrimp AD Review

Thai shrimp producer/exporters appealed the decision of the Court of International Trade upholding the refusal of the International Trade Administration to grant an offset for interest income on long-term financial assets when calculating dumping margins, in the February 2007 - January 2008 AD administrative review of certain frozen warm water shrimp from Brazil, Ecuador, India, and Thailand. The Thai producers argued that the long-term financial assets on which they earned interest income was required to be held as collateral for credit lines used for day-to-day operating funds, and the ITA should therefore apply it as an offset to interest expense in the overhead expense ratio that the ITA calculates as a component of normal value (thereby reducing normal value and dumping margins).

Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article

If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.

However, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) upheld the CIT’s ruling in favor of the ITA, agreeing that the Thai producers failed to show that the ITA unreasonably departed from its practice, or otherwise erred.

(The Thai plaintiffs were: Andaman Seafood Co., Ltd., Chanthaburi Frozen Foods Co., Ltd., Chanthaburi Seafoods Co., Ltd., Phatthana Seafood Co., Ltd., Phatthana Frozen Food Co., Ltd., Thailand Fishery Cold Storage Public Co., Ltd., Thai International Seafoods Co., Ltd., Sea Wealth Frozen Food Co., Ltd., and Rubicon Resources, LLC.)

(CAFC 2011-1282, decided 12/19/11)