Information provided by NBB

This week the Commerce Department issued a final decision on the question of whether or not Argentina and Indonesia unfairly dump biodiesel imports into the United States. The Commerce Department agreed with the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) Fair Trade Coalition, affirming the agency’s earlier preliminary determination.

The decision finalizes that earlier finding, and the cash deposit rates required of importers of biodiesel will be updated to reflect this final determination. The cash deposit rates range from 60.44 to 86.41 percent for biodiesel from Argentina, and 92.52 to 276.65 percent for biodiesel from Indonesia, depending on the particular foreign producer/exporter involved.

“It is reassuring to see the administration enforcing policies that put America first,” said NBB in a statement released this week. “Today’s decision provides room for the domestic biodiesel industry to flourish and produce more volumes of this American-made fuel, which provides so many economic and environmental benefits. The biodiesel industry already deals with policy uncertainties, such as lapsing tax credits and annual unpredictability with the Renewable Fuel Standard, so we appreciate seeing illegally dumped imports remedied. We look forward to continuing our focus on growing the domestic industry that supports roughly 64,000 jobs across the nation.”

The International Trade Commission (ITC) will hold its final injury vote in March or April. If the ITC’s final injury vote is affirmative, the Commerce Department will publish final antidumping orders. This would conclude the process for this initial round of administrative proceedings. Parties could then APPEAL these decisions in the Court of International Trade in New York. In fact, we have already seen several parties file in that court to contest the findings in the countervailing duties cases; it is likely the same would happen in the antidumping cases. This requires a new round of legal defenses and strategies.

To be successful in securing relief, a party must file both with the ITC and the Commerce Department. The Commerce Department determines whether the imports are subsidized and/or dumped, while the ITC determines whether the domestic industry has been injured by reason of such unfairly traded imports. The Commerce Department also determines the margin of duties to impose on imports based on the degree of dumping and subsidies found.

The coalition outlined its case before the ITC Commissioners last fall; highlights of that testimony are available here. Essentially, studies found that a flood of dumped and subsidized imports from Argentina and Indonesia has resulted in market share losses and depressed prices for domestic producers. These imports have severely injured American manufacturers and workers. Specifically, biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia surged by 464 percent from 2014 to 2016, taking 18 percentage points of market share from U.S. producers. Imports of biodiesel from Argentina jumped 144.5 percent since the filing of the antidumping and countervailing duty petitions. These surging, low-priced imports prevented producers from earning adequate returns on their substantial investments and caused U.S. producers to pull back on further investments to serve a growing market.