ALUMINUM FOIL CONTAINER MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION APPLAUDS COMMERCE DEPARTMENT’S AGGRESSIVE ENFORCEMENT OF UNFAIR TRADE ORDERS ON DISPOSABLE ALUMINUM CONTAINERS FROM CHINA

Department of Commerce Initiates Inquiries on Disposable Aluminum Containers from China Completed or Assembled in Thailand and Vietnam

, /PRNewswire/ — Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its initiation of country-wide anti-circumvention inquiries involving U.S. imports of disposable aluminum containers, pans, trays, and lids (“containers”) completed or assembled in Thailand and Vietnam using aluminum foil manufactured in China. These imports are inappropriately avoiding the payment of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of containers from China, pursuant to unfair trade orders that were published by the Commerce Department on May 8.

“We are very encouraged by today’s announcement,” said John Herrmann, counsel to the Aluminum Foil Container Manufacturers Association (“AFCMA”), a group of U.S. container manufacturers that filed the petitions that ultimately resulted in the unfair trade orders. “Shortly after the investigations on imports of containers were initiated, importers and foreign producers quickly shifted container finishing operations outside of China to nearby Asian countries, with Vietnam and Thailand accounting for the largest volume of imports. U.S. manufacturers should not have to compete with products that are sold at unfairly low prices and subsidized by the Chinese government, and the Commerce Department’s initiation of these circumvention inquiries is an encouraging sign that the agency will enforce these orders to their fullest extent. We are extremely grateful for the Commerce Department’s continued efforts at a very busy time to support this vulnerable industry that only just received relief from unfairly traded imports directly from China.”

The Commerce Department will soon issue questionnaires to the suspected duty evaders, provide opportunities for interested parties to submit information relevant to the agency’s proceedings, and issue a preliminary determination. If the Commerce Department reaches an affirmative preliminary determination, containers from Vietnam and Thailand imported, at a minimum, on or after the initiation date will be subject to duties at the antidumping and countervailing duty rates calculated in the Commerce’s antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. These rates are greater than 500 percent for all Chinese exporters and producers. 

In that regard, Mr. Herrmann further noted that “a relatively new provision in the Commerce Department’s enforcement toolkit makes clear that imports may also become subject to duties if they circumvent through additional third countries beyond Vietnam and Thailand, as Commerce can apply duties retroactively to imports that entered prior to the date on which a circumvention inquiry is initiated. We will be urging Commerce to apply this provision aggressively here to send a clear message to importers that are considering hopping to additional third countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan, and we were encouraged to see this provision of the agency’s regulations identified explicitly in the Commerce Department’s notices initiating these proceedings.”

The individual AFCMA members participating in and supporting the prosecution of the investigations are: Durable Packaging International (Wheeling, IL); D&W Fine Pack, LLC (Wood Dale, IL); Handi-foil Corp. (Wheeling, IL); Penny Plate, LLC (Mount Laurel, NJ); Reynolds Consumer Products, LLC (Lake Forest, IL); Shah Foil Products, Inc. (Piscataway Township, NJ); Smart USA, Inc. (Bay Shore, NY); and Trinidad/Benham Corp. (Denver, CO). 

The disposable aluminum containers subject to these investigations include containers, pans, trays, and lids produced primarily from flat-rolled aluminum. The subject merchandise includes disposable aluminum containers regardless of shape or size and whether or not wrinkled or smooth, and subject containers are typically used in food-related applications, including but not limited to food preparation, packaging, baking, barbequing, reheating, takeout, or storage, but also have other uses. 

The Aluminum Foil Container Manufacturers Association is represented in these actions by John M. Herrmann, Paul C. Rosenthal, and Joshua R. Morey of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

SOURCE Aluminum Foil Container Manufacturers Association

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