An International Trade Commission vote clears the way for antidumping orders to be issued later this month.

The International Trade Commission voted 4-0 in favor of the National Biodiesel Board Fair Trade Coalition’s position that the industry has suffered because of unfairly dumped imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. This affirmative vote on injury is the last remaining procedural hurdle before final antidumping orders can be issued.

“This vote today (April 3) finalizes the case to address the harm that unfair trade practices have had on the U.S. biodiesel industry,” said Donnell Rehagen, chief executive officer of the National Biodiesel Board. “Foreign producers dumping product into American markets below cost has undermined the jobs and environmental benefits that U.S. biodiesel brings to the table. Establishing a level playing field for true competition in the market will allow the domestic industry the opportunity to put to work substantial under-utilized production capacity.”

Last month, the Commerce Department calculated final dumping rates ranging from 60.44% to 86.41% for Argentine producers, and 92.52% to 276.65% for Indonesian producers.

The NBB Fair Trade Coalition filed this antidumping petition in parallel to a countervailing duty petition to address a flood of subsidized and dumped imports from Argentina and Indonesia that resulted in market share losses and depressed prices for domestic producers. Biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia surged by 464% from 2014 to 2016, taking 18.3 percentage points of market share from U.S. manufacturers. These surging, artificially low-priced imports prevented producers from earning adequate returns on their substantial investments and stifled the ability of U.S. producers to make further investments to serve a growing market.

A final determination by the Commerce Department in the companion countervailing duty determination was announced in early November, resulting in duty deposit rates of 71.45% to 72.28% for Argentina and 34.45% to 64.73% for Indonesia. 

Source: NBB