The International Trade Commission determined on April 13, 2012 that there is a reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of drawn stainless steel sinks from China that are allegedly subsidized and sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. As a result, the ITA will continue to conduct its countervailing and antidumping duty investigations on imports of this product from China, with its preliminary countervailing duty determination due on or about May 25, 2012, and its preliminary antidumping duty determination due on or about August 8, 2012. Subsequent ITC notice (FR Pub 04/20/12) available here. (ITA Case No. A-570-983 / C-570-984; ITC Case No. 701-TA-489 / 731-TA-1201)
The International Trade Administration is publishing notices in the April 16, 2012, Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The International Trade Administration issued the initiation and preliminary results of its antidumping duty changed circumstances review of non-malleable cast iron pipe fittings from China (A-570-875), in response to a request by Ford Motor Co. that the ITA revoke, in part, the AD order with respect to a particular brake fluid tube connector. The connector is a “joint block” for brake fluid tubes and is made of non-malleable cast iron to Society of Automotive Engineers (SEA) automotive standard J431. The ITA said the domestic industry has affirmatively expressed a lack of interest in the continuation of the order with respect to this product. Therefore, The ITA intends to revoke, in part, the AD order as it relates to imports of the connector described above from China.
The International Trade Administration issued a correction to its notice of initiation of the countervailing duty investigation of drawn stainless steel sinks from China (C-570-984). In the scope of the original CV initiation notice, the ITA omitted a word and used an incomplete Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number.
From April 6 to April 10, 2012, the Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails April 13 & 16, 2012, announcing changes to some 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 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is requesting comments by June 15, 2012, on its risk analysis and draft phytosanitary measures for the importation into the continental U.S. of fresh strawberry fruit from Egypt, which is currently not allowed. After reviewing the comments, if the overall conclusions of the risk analysis and the Administrator’s determination of risk remain unchanged, APHIS will authorize the importation of fresh strawberry fruit from Egypt into the continental U.S. subject to the requirements specified in the risk management document.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking comments by June 15, 2012, on a proposed rule that would amend the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh bananas from the Philippines into the continental U.S.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule, effective May 16, 2012, amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh pitaya fruit from Central America (i.e., from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) into the continental U.S.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule, effective May 16, 2012, amending the regulations governing the importation of clementines from Spain by removing from the regulations the number of clementines per consignment intended for export to the U.S. that are required to be sampled by APHIS inspectors. In place of this number, the regulations will say that inspectors will cut and inspect a sample of clementines determined by APHIS.