The Commerce Department published notices in the March 3 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department issued the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review on pasta from Italy (C-475-819). The agency made slight changes from its preliminary results, but continued to find de minimis CV rates for Delverde and Valdigrano. As a result, period of review entries exported by Delverde and Valdigrano will be liquidated without regard to CV duties, and no CV duty cash deposit will be required on future entries from these companies until further notice. These rates are effective March 4, and will be implemented by CBP soon.
The Commerce Department issued the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on preserved mushrooms from China (A-570-851). Commerce said that Blue Field did not cooperate during the review, so it assigned the company to the China-wide entity as punishment. The agency also found the two other companies under review, Xiamen International Trade & Industrial Co., Ltd. (XITIC) and Zhangzhou Hongda Import & Export Trading Co., Ltd., had no exports of subject merchandise to U.S. during the period of review, so future entries from these two companies will be subject to AD cash deposit rates set in previous reviews. The new rates are effective March 4, and will be implemented by CBP soon.
A combination toy box/bench imported by Stork Craft Manufacturing is not subject to antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890), even though it doesn’t entirely meet the criteria for scope’s exclusion, said the Commerce Department in a Feb. 25 scope ruling. Specifically, Stork Craft’s toy box does not have hinges, much less the “slow-closing safety hinges” identified in the scope as a characteristic of excluded toy boxes. Commerce ruled that, notwithstanding the minor difference, the toy box is otherwise the same as excluded toy boxes and should be treated the same for AD duty purposes.
On Feb. 28 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
On Feb. 28 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Feb. 28 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is adopting as permanent an interim final rule that increases the amount of “badly misshapen” kiwifruit it will allow in shipments imported into the United States. The July 2013 interim final rule relaxed the minimum grade requirement for imported kiwifruit, as well as kiwifruit grown in California, by raising the allowable tolerance of “badly misshapen” kiwifruit from 7 to 16 percent per lot (see 13071915). AMS made the change to lower the costs associated with resorting and repacking kiwifruit so that it meets minimum KAC No. 1 grade requirements. The provisions took effect July 25, 2013.
The Foreign Trade Zones Board issued the following notices for March 3:
The Commerce Department is canceling an export promotion mission to India originally scheduled for April 24-30. The trade mission would have included representatives from U.S. automotive goods companies (see 13112225). The notice gave no reason for the cancellation.