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US silicon antidumping duty cases extended; preliminary determination due Oct 4

https://www.chemnet.com   Jul 14,2017 Platts
The US antidumping duty investigations into silicon imports from Australia, Brazil and Norway will see a further extension following a request from petitioner Globe Specialty Metals that the Department of Commerce delay its preliminary determinations until October 4.

The preliminary determination regarding dumping margins for the three countries was expected on August 15, according to a previous extension, but Globe requested for a further extension on July 10.

Commerce usually grants requests for extensions, and sometimes the petitioner submits the request in order to help Commerce investigators if they need more time.

In its request, according to the filing on the US International Trade Administration website, Globe's attorneys from DLA Piper noted that it filed the request as required more than 25 days before the scheduled date of the preliminary determinations.

Globe said it was making the request because "the department and petitioner need adequate time to review and analyze the questionnaire responses submitted by the respondents and to identify deficiencies."

Adding: "Additional time is also needed for petitioner to submit deficiency comments, the department to issue supplemental questionnaires, the respondents to respond to those questionnaires, and the department and petitioner to analyze the supplemental responses. Finally, these investigations involve complex issues, including issues related to further manufacturing in the United States, purchases of major inputs from affiliated parties, and the application of the 'special rule' under section 772(e) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended."

Globe's parent company, Ferroglobe, had alluded to a possible extension in its first-quarter 2017 earnings report on May 21, noting that it expected Commerce to make its preliminary determination on antidumping duties "early in the fourth quarter of 2017."

Meantime, a countervailing duty investigation into US imports of silicon metal from Australia, Brazil and Kazakhstan appears to be on track to meet the last scheduled preliminary determination date of August 7, based on information in the record. Questionnaire-related filings have continued this week.

There could be an extension, however, because DLA Piper -- representing Ferroglobe -- requested a seven-day extension to July 17 to file factual information due to a cyber attack on the law firm's network. It also requested that the final Commerce determination as to countervailable subsidies be aligned with the final determination in the antidumping case.
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