On Monday, July 2, 2012, the US Commerce Department (DOC) and the US International Trade Commission (ITC) formally initiated the second set of sunset reviews of the antidumping orders on steel concrete reinforcing bars from Belarus, China, Indonesia, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine.
The DOC's sunset regulations virtually require an affirmative finding that revocation of a dumping order will likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping. The only possible exception is the case where a mill under order has shipped substantial quantities of the product to the United States at prices with a zero or de minimis dumping margin, as determined by the DOC in administrative reviews. That has not been the case with any of these orders against rebar.
The ITC will conduct a separate sunset review, and a negative injury determination by the ITC will result in the revocation of an antidumping order, regardless of the DOC's decision. This is the reason that, in most sunset cases, foreign producers and US consumers concentrate their resources and their efforts at the ITC.
In order to insure that the ITC conducts a full review of the rebar orders, at least some of the foreign producers must respond to the ITC's institution notice, which contains several questions. Importers may also submit responses to the ITC's questions. The deadline for submitting responses to the ITC is August 1, 2012.