(Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, Inc.) Following are summaries of current antidumping actions taken by the International Trade Administration.

Commodity: Magnesium metal, classifiable under HTSUS 8104.11.00, 8104.19.00, 8104.30.00 and 8104.90.00.
Country: Russia.
Nature of Notice: Final results of administrative review of AD duty order, effective Sept. 13. One company was assigned a dumping margin of 2.24%. This rate will be used to assess AD duties on entries made during the period April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010. Because this order was revoked effective April 15, 2010, no AD cash deposits for future entries of subject merchandise will be required.

Commodity: Small diameter graphite electrodes, classifiable under HTSUS 8545.11.0000.
Country: China.
Nature of Notice: Final results of administrative review of AD duty order. Dumping margins range from 2.75% to 159.64% and will be used to (a) assess AD duties on entries of subject merchandise during the period of review (Aug. 21, 2008, through Jan. 31, 2010) and (b) determine cash deposit requirements for entries of subject merchandise on and after Sept. 13, 2011.

Commodity: Stainless steel bar, classifiable under HTSUS 7222.11, 7222.19, 7222.20 and 7222.30.
Country: India.
Nature of Notice: Final results of administrative review of AD duty order. Dumping margins range from 0.07% (de minimis) to 21.02% and will be used to (a) assess AD duties on entries of subject merchandise during the period of review (Feb. 1, 2009, through Jan. 31, 2010) and (b) determine cash deposit requirements for entries of subject merchandise on and after Sept. 13, 2011, except for one exporter for which the AD duty order is being revoked effective Feb. 1, 2010.

Commodity: Large diameter line pipe and tube.
Country: Mexico.
Nature of Notice: NAFTA binational panel decision affirming International Trade Commission’s affirmative final AD injury determination.

Commodity: Welded carbon steel pipe and tube.
Country: Turkey.
Nature of Notice: Extension from Oct. 6 to Dec. 5 of time limit for final results of administrative review of AD duty order

(NWFA) On Oct. 12, the International Trade Commission (ITC) will hold a second hearing for testimony in the U.S.’s antidumping and countervailing investigation of engineered wood flooring from China.

During this hearing, both sides in the investigation will make their last plea in an attempt to sway the ITC in its final decision on whether to give the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) a green light to institute tariffs on engineered wood flooring from China. The matter was originally brought to the ITC by the Coalition for American Hardwood Parity (CAHP), whose members feel this product from China is being unfairly traded in the U.S. and that it is costing their businesses material damage. However, these petitioners are not unopposed.

On the other side of the matter are select importers, distributors and retailers that feel their business in China is threatened by increased tariffs sought by the CAHP. Some of these companies have banded together to form the Alliance for Free Choice & Jobs in Flooring (AFCJF).

It’s expected that the ITC will make a final ruling in the case in November. If the ITC rules for the CAHP, the DOC will institute antidumping and countervailing duties that will stay in effect for the next 30 years. Also, import duties in the U.S. are primarily retroactive, meaning that if DOC does end up imposing duties, an importer could face a sudden jump in the amount owed a year or two after making a shipment of engineered wood flooring from China. But there is a chance the ITC will rule in favor of the AFCJF and other importers, in which case the antidumping and countervailing duties will be dropped.

Until then, the wood flooring industry will look ahead to Oct. 12. Also on that date, the DOC will hand down another revised determination for antidumping and countervailing duties. Wood flooring importers of record will pay these tariffs until the ITC makes a final determination in November.

Right now, the majority of engineered wood flooring imported from China is subject to a preliminary countervailing duty of about 2.25 percent or lower and a preliminary antidumping duty of about 6.78 percent or lower, figures that have been in effect since March and June, respectively.

The hearing at the ITC (500 E. Street Southwest, Washington, D.C.) will begin at 9:30 a.m. and is open to the public. Both the petitioners and respondents will provide testimony and then answer questions offered by the ITC. The DOC is expected to announce its final duties after noon, according to the AFCJF.

(Business and Industry) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a new document that offers guidance to companies importing electronic devices into the U.S. that emit radiation.

The guidance covers both non-medical and medical products, including diagnostic x-ray systems such as fluoroscopy units. The document’s goal is to provide specific recommendations that will facilitate the FDA’s import entry review process for device manufacturers.

The guidance covers the agency’s affirmation of compliance AOC codes that vendors can provide at the time of import entry to expedite the import process. By using the proper AOC codes and their appropriate qualifiers, companies can ensure that their shipments won’t be held up for further review by the FDA

WASHINGTON, (MMD Newswire) August 29, 2011 – – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that sugar entering the United States under the fiscal year 2011 raw sugar import tariff-rate quota (TRQ) will be permitted to enter U.S. Customs territory until Oct. 31, 2011, a month later than the usual last entry date.

Additional U.S. Note 5(a) (iv) of Chapter 17 of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to permit sugar allocated under a given quota period to be entered in a previous or subsequent quota year period. This action is expected to reduce the TRQ shortfall and provide additional flexibility for U.S. refiners.

The Department previously announced, on Aug. 1, 2011, that sugar entering under the FY 2012 raw sugar TRQ will be permitted to enter U.S. Customs territory beginning Sept. 1, 2011, a month earlier than the usual first entry date of Oct. 1. This announcement does not change the level of any U.S. sugar import TRQs, and applies only to raw cane sugar (not refined sugar).

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (the Department) that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) orders on stainless steel plate in coils (SSPC) from Belgium, the Republic of Korea (Korea), South Africa, and Taiwan would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping, that revocation of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on SSPC from South Africa would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of a countervailable subsidy, and the determinations by the International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of these AD and CVD orders would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of these AD orders and CVD order.Show citation box

Quake-hit Port of Sendai-Shiogama restarts international lanes next month

Regular international container services will partially resume next month at the most important port in the northeastern Japanese region of Tohoku, which bore the brunt of the earthquake and tsunami in March.

The Port of Sendai-Shiogama in Miyagi Prefecture will reopen the China-South Korea Route on Sept. 26 with the arrival of the first container ship operated by South Korea-based Namsung Shipping Line, the Miyagi prefectural government said. The China-South Korea connects Miyagi Prefecture with such cities as Busan, South Korea, and Dalian and Qingdao in China.

The Miyagi prefectural government did not say, however, when the Port of Sendai-Shiogama will be able to restart its two other regular international container shipping routes: the East Asia route and the North America West Coast-Southeast Asia route, which includes Los Angeles and Oakland.

Container services resumed at the Port of Sendai-Shiogama on June 8. But the port has not yet been fully restored, and container services there have so far been limited to domestic feeder ships.

The Port of Sendai-Shiogama is one of 23 Japanese ports designated by the central Japanese government as specially important ports for international maritime transport. It is the only such port damaged by the March 11 twin natural disasters.

*The Journal of Commerce Online – News Story *

The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a final rule that, effective Sept. 30, will increase the assessments paid by importers of cotton and cotton-containing products under the Cotton Research and Promotion Order. These assessments are being raised from $0.01088 per kilogram to $0.012665 per kilogram, reflecting an increase in the average weighted price of upland cotton received by U.S. farmers during calendar year 2010. The revenues generated by these assessments are used to finance research and promotion programs designed to increase consumer demand for upland cotton in the U.S. and international markets.

This rule also updates the textile trade conversion factors used to estimate cotton equivalents contained in cotton textile products imported into the U.S., which serve as the basis for collecting cotton import assessments. The revised factors reflect technology-driven improvements in textile production efficiencies and are intended to assure a more fair and accurate assessment of imported cotton-containing products.

Finally, to ensure that as close to 100% of imported cotton and cotton-containing products are subject to assessment as possible, AMS is expanding the number of Harmonized Tariff Schedule statistical reporting numbers on which such assessments are levied from 706 to 2,371.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced they will be deploying new
capabilities later this month that will allow rail and sea carriers to transmit electronic manifest data
to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Ultimately, CBP will replace the
Automated Manifest System with ACE as the CBP-approved Electronic Data Interchange
system for rail and sea data submissions.

The e-Manifest: Rail and Sea release will:

*Enable CBP to place and remove holds at the conveyance, container and master bill level

*Inform carriers which Participating Government Agency (PGA) has held their merchandise

*Extend Broker Download to the sea environment

*Increase number of possible Secondary Notify Parties to 25

*Allow carriers to create list of trade partners who are authorized to use their type two custodial bond through the ACE Portal,
i.e. In-Bond Authorization

*Allow carriers to create and maintain sea conveyance information through the ACE Portal

*Send a status notification of disposition code “95” to Carriers and subsequent Secondary Notify Parties such as Port
Authorities when a Paperless Master Inbond (IT, T&E, IE) has been deleted by the carrier

*Provide 12 new reports for rail and sea carriers along with seven new reports for brokers and two for importers

*Provide the ability to share customized reports with any user within the portal account

*Allow filers to create and maintain rail line release Entry Banks through the ACE Portal

On Thursday, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced that, as a result of
the affirmative determinations by the DOC and the US International Trade
Commission (ITC) in their respective sunset reviews, the antidumping orders on
stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan and the
countervailing duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip from Korea will be
continued for a further period of five years.

The next sunset reviews of these orders will be initiated in July 2016.

The DOC revoked the antidumping orders on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils
from Germany, Italy, and Mexico because the ITC made a negative determination
with respect to these countries.

The merchandise subject to these orders is classified in the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under the subheadings: 7219.13.00.31,
7219.13.00.51 7219.13.00.71, 7219.13.00.81, 7219.14.00.30, 7219.14.00.65,
7219.14.00.90, 7219.32.00.05, 7219.32.00.20, 7219.32.00.25, 7219.32.00.35,
7219.32.00.36, 7219.32.00.38, 7219.32.00.42, 7219.32.00.44, 7219.33.00.05,
7219.33.00.20, 7219.33.00.25, 7219.33.00.35, 219.33.00.36, 7219.33.00.38,
7219.33.00.42, 7219.33.00.44, 7219.34.00.05, 7219.34.00.20, 7219.34.00.25,
7219.34.00.30, 7219.34.00.35, 7219.35.00.05, 7219.35.00.15, 7219.35.00.30,
7219.35.00.35, 7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60,
7219.90.00.80, 7220.12.10.00, 7220.12.50.00, 7220.20.10.10, 7220.20.10.15,
7220.20.10.60, 7220.20.10.80, 7220.20.60.05, 7220.20.60.10, 7220.20.60.15,
7220.20.60.60, 7220.20.60.80, 7220.20.70.05, 7220.20.70.10, 7220.20.70.15,
7220.20.70.60, 7220.20.70.80, 7220.20.80.00, 7220.20.90.30, 7220.20.90.60,
7220.90.00.10, 7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80.

-Department of Commerce