The U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) in its anti-dumping investigation concerning quartz surface products from India (A-533-889) has imposed a final rate of 3.19 % against non-sampled cooperating Indian exporters.
Earlier, the USDOC in its preliminary determination had proposed duty at a rate of 161.56%. After the issuance of the preliminary determination, the Trade Defence Wing (TDW), DGTR argued against the application of adverse facts against the non – sampled cooperating exporters.
The officers of the TDW also held bilateral meetings with their counterparts from the US during the WTO Rules Committee Week held in Geneva from 24th October to 28th October 2022 wherein the GOI’s concerns regarding the investigation were raised by the officials of the TDW.
After the intervention of the TDW, the USDOC has issued its final determination, whereby the final rate of duty for the 48 cooperating non-sampled exporters has been determined as 3.19%.
Split Decision in India Quartz-Tariff Review
A massive increase in tariffs for quartz surfaces made in India won’t be happening in 2023 … at least for most producers.
Anti-dumping tariffs on most Indian companies’ materials will remain at 3.19%, rather than increasing to 161% as proposed last summer by the US International Trade Administration (ITA), a division of the Commerce Department.
However, those same duties will be increased to 323.12% for one group of companies.
Anti-dumping tariffs will be zero for one producer.
The tariff decisions were made as part of a lengthy memo issued by the ITA on Dec. 30 (and made public on Jan. 3) concerning a review of unfair-trade tariffs set to be implemented on India-made quartz surfaces in 2020.
The review, which took place early last year, is standard practice; it verifies data submitted by selected exporters. It ensures compliance with tariffs imposed by the United States International Trade Commission in response to a petition filed by US manufacturer Cambria Company LLC in 2019.
The review was hampered when an Indian surface company (Antique Marbonite Private Ltd., Shivam Enterprises, and Prism Johnson Ltd.) missed a final deadline for submitting financial information to the ITA by a few hours. The ITA refused to accept the late documents in July 2022 and raised the company’s anti-dumping tariff from 3.19% to 323.12%, matching the market-price difference claimed by Cambria in its 2019 petition.
As part of the review, 51 other Indian quartz companies did not report data to the ITA, instead relying on the Antique Group and Pokarna Engineered Stone Ltd. (PESL) to submit information for examination. Because of the data refusal, ITA set the anti-dumping tariff for “non-selected” companies at half the Antique Group rate, or 161.53%.
The ITA also set the anti-dumping rate for PESL to zero. PESL submitted its data on time, and the ITA review determined that the company did not exceed margins that would indicate product shipments at less than market value.
Initially, the ITA set a 120-day deadline for receiving comments on the decision. Two extensions pushed the deadline to January 4.
The Dec. 30 memo went over a number of issues with the tariff review and went over the process in great detail. The ITA upheld its decision to levy the high tariff on Antique Group products, claiming that the company “failed to cooperate to the best of its ability.”
However, after further review, the ITA determined that the 161.53% rate “is not reasonably reflective of the non-selected companies’ potential dumping margins.” The agency decided to reinstate the original anti-dumping tariff rate of 3.19%.