Allegheny Ludlum Corp. v. U.S., 01-1223.
| Decision Date | 19 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-1223.,01-1223. |
| Citation | 287 F.3d 1365 |
| Parties | ALLEGHENY LUDLUM CORP., AK Steel Corporation (formerly Armco, Inc.), Butler Armco Independent Union, J&L Specialty Steel Inc., North American Stainless, The United Steel Workers Of America, AFL-CIO/CLC, and Zanesville Armco Independent Organization, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Kathleen W. Cannon, Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC, of Washington, DC, argued for plaintiffs-appellants. With her on the brief were R. Alan Luberda and David A. Hartquist.
Neal J. Reynolds, Attorney, Office of General Counsel, U.S. International Trade Commission, of Washington, DC, argued for defendant-appellee. With him on the brief were Lyn M. Schlitt, General Counsel, and James M. Lyons, Deputy General Counsel.
Before LOURIE, CLEVENGER, and GAJARSA, Circuit Judges.
Allegheny Ludlum Corporation, AK Steel Corporation, Butler Armco Independent Union, J&L Specialty Steel Inc., North American Stainless, The United Steelworkers of America, AFL/CIO/CLC, and Zanesville Armco Independent Organization (collectively "Allegheny"), appeal from a decision of the United States Court of International Trade affirming a Final Determination of the International Trade Commission that the U.S. steel industry was not materially injured by imports of stainless steel coiled plate from Belgium and Canada. Because the Final Determination is flawed as to each of the three statutory factors the Commission is obligated to consider, the decision of the Court of International Trade to affirm is improper. For this reason, we vacate and remand.
Under the statutory scheme established by the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, American industries may petition for relief from imports that are sold in the United States at less than fair value ("dumped"), or which benefit from subsidies provided by foreign governments. 19 U.S.C. § 1675b (2000). The International Trade Commission ("Commission") is charged with determining whether the imported merchandise in question either materially injures or threatens to materially injure American domestic industry. As part of this material injury analysis, the Commission is obligated to delineate the relevant domestic industry by making a "domestic like product" determination, assessing which domestic product most closely corresponds to the imported merchandise in question. 19 U.S.C. §§ 1677(4), (10).
In 1998, responding to a petition for relief by the domestic steel industry, the Commission commenced an anti-dumping inquiry directed towards imported merchandise consisting of stainless steel plate in coils. Following a determination by the Department of Commerce ("Commerce") that the imports were indeed being dumped onto the American market, the Commission evaluated whether these products materially injured domestic industry.
In the preliminary phase of the investigation, concluded in May 1998, the Commission found a single domestic like product, namely "certain stainless steel plate in coils." However, in its Final Determination, issued in May 1999, the Commission reached a different conclusion, determining that two domestic like products corresponded to the relevant imports: 1) hot-rolled steel coiled plate and 2) cold-rolled steel coiled plate. The Commission determined that all stainless steel plate in coils fell in one of these two categories.1 These products differ in their qualities and uses. Cold-rolled plate is thinner and has a smoother finish than hot-rolled plate, and is used in applications such as food processing, beer-making, and dairy containers. In contrast, hot-rolled plate is used in articles such as equipment and storage tanks. As cold-rolled plate requires additional processing, it is more costly than hot-rolled plate. Over 99.9 percent of domestic steel plate production is hot-rolled plate. Because it found hot and cold-rolled steel plate to be two distinctly different products, the Commission considered separately whether the respective domestic industries producing them had been injured by the subject imports of stainless steel plate in coils. The Commission determined that while the domestic hot-rolled steel plate industry had indeed been materially injured by the subject imports, the domestic cold-rolled steel plate industry had not.
Before the Court of International Trade, Allegheny challenged both the Commission's determination that hot and cold-rolled steel plate constituted separate domestic like products, as well as the Commission's finding that the domestic cold-rolled steel plate industry suffered no material injury as a result of the imported merchandise.
The Court of International Trade affirmed the Commission's Final Determination. Allegheny Ludlum Corp. v. United States, 116 F.Supp.2d 1276 (Ct. Int'l Trade 2000). The Court found that substantial record evidence supported the determination that hot and cold-rolled steel plate constituted separate domestic like products. Id. at 1287-88. As to the determination of no material injury, the Court of International Trade found the Commission's analysis legally flawed as to each of the three factors, volume, price, and impact, that 19 U.S.C. § 1677(7)(B) directs the Commission to consider.2 Id. at 1288-1307. The Court of International Trade determined that the Commission had grounded its Final Determination of no material injury on an additional basis, that the domestic industry exhibited a "lack of interest" with regard to the market for cold-rolled steel plate. Id. at 1303. Evidence to this effect consisted in large part of statements made by industry representatives before the Commission that cold-rolled steel plate represented an almost negligible market in which domestic manufacturers had no plans to participate. The Court of International Trade affirmed the Final Determination, notwithstanding the errors in the remainder of the Commission's analysis, finding the evidence of the industry's lack of interest sufficient to sustain the overall finding of no material injury. Id. at 1307-8.
On appeal to this court, Allegheny challenges only the portion of the decision of the Court of International Trade affirming the Commission's finding of no material injury as to the domestic cold-rolled steel plate industry.
We review the Commission's conclusions of law de novo. United States Steel Group v. United States, 96 F.3d 1352, 1356 (Fed.Cir.1996).
We review the Court's evaluation of Commission factual determinations by stepping into the shoes of the Court and duplicating its review, Taiwan Semiconductor Indus. Ass'n v. Int'l Trade Comm'n, 266 F.3d 1339, 1343-44 (Fed.Cir.2001), evaluating whether Commission determinations are unsupported by substantial evidence or otherwise not in accordance with law. 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(1)(B)(i); Gerald Metals, Inc. v. United States, 132 F.3d 716, 719 (Fed.Cir.1997).
Section 1677(7)(A) defines material injury as "harm which is not inconsequential, immaterial, or unimportant." Section 1677(7)(B) sets forth the factors the Commission is to evaluate in making its material injury determination. It provides that the Commission:
(i) shall consider —
(I) the volume of imports of the subject merchandise (II) the effect of imports of that merchandise on prices in the United States for domestic like products, and
(III) the impact of imports of such merchandise on domestic producers of domestic like products, but only in the context of production operations within the United States; and
(ii) may consider such other economic factors as are relevant to the determination regarding whether there is material injury by reason of imports.
19 U.S.C. § 1677(7)(B) (2000).
Allegheny asserts that the Commission's analysis of each of the mandatory factors of subsection (i) is unsupported by substantial evidence or otherwise legally incorrect. Specifically, Allegheny contends that the Commission's analysis of both the volume and impact factors employs a faulty interpretation of 19 U.S.C. § 1677(4)(D), while the Commission's analysis of price is unsupported by substantial evidence. Further, Allegheny asserts that the Court of International Trade erred in affirming, despite the errors, the Commission's Final Determination on the basis of the industry's lack of interest in the cold-rolled market, a factor not present in the statutory language cited above. We address each of these contentions in turn.
Both the price and impact components of section 1677(7)(B)(i) key the Commission's material injury determination to an evaluation of the effect of the imported merchandise on the domestic market for the relevant domestic like product. The "product line provision" of the statute provides an exception to this general rule if necessary data is lacking. This provision directs that the effect of subject imports "shall be assessed in relation to the United States production of a domestic like product if available data permit the separate identification of production in terms of such criteria as the production process or the producer's profits." 19 U.S.C. § 1677(4)(D) (2000). In the alternative:
If the domestic production of the domestic like product has no separate identity in terms of such criteria, then the effect of the [imports] shall be assessed by the examination of the production of the narrowest group or range of products, which includes a domestic like product, for which the necessary information can be provided.
Id. The Commission resorted to this alternative, explaining in the Final Determination that:
Because the domestic industry was unable to provide segregated trade and financial data for cold-rolled stainless steel coiled plate, pursuant to the production line provision of 19 U.S.C. § 1677(4)(D), we also assess the effect of the cumulated subject imports on the production of the narrowest group of products that includes...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Nucor Corp. v. U.S.
...1208, 1218 (2002) (ITC acted reasonably in disregarding AUV data because of variance in product mix); Allegheny Ludlum Corp. v. United States, 287 F.3d 1365, 1373-74 (Fed.Cir. 2002) (describing narrow circumstances where the ITC may use AUV data as indicators of price trends). Second, in an......
-
Co-Steel Raritan v. Intern. Trade
...for relief from imports that are sold in the United States at less than fair value (`dumped')...." Allegheny Ludlum Corp. v. United States, 287 F.3d 1365, 1368 (Fed. Cir.2002) (citing 19 U.S.C. § 1675b). Commerce determines whether sales have been made at less than fair value, 19 U.S.C. § 1......
-
Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. v. United States
...than its fair value." 19 U.S.C. § 1673(1). Domestic industries may seek "relief from [such] imports," Allegheny Ludlum Corp. v. United States , 287 F.3d 1365, 1368 (Fed. Cir. 2002), by filing a petition with Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") to initiate an antidum......
-
DAK Ams. LLC v. United States
...Commission, moreover, "is obligated to make active, reasonable efforts to obtain relevant data." Allegheny Ludlum Corp. v. United States, 287 F.3d 1365, 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2002) ; see also Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. United States, 27 CIT 1662, 1673, 294 F. Supp. 2d 1359, 1370 (2003) (same).13 Sp......