By Fredrick P. Waite, AWPA General Counsel

April 6.  The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has ruled that imports of Deacero’s small-diameter (4.75 mm) wire rod is covered by the antidumping order on wire rod from Mexico.  This is the effective end of the appeal process.  Decisions of the CAFC may be appealed only to the US Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court must agree to accept the appeal.  In my opinion, there is little likelihood that the Supreme Court would agree to accept an appeal in this case.

Technically, Deacero may request a rehearing en banc of the CAFC’s decision.  This is a request that the entire CAFC review the decision of the three-judge panel.  However, it is highly unlikely that the CAFC would grant such a request in this case.  According to the CAFC’s website, the CAFC grants requests for rehearing en banc less than one percent of the time.

We estimate that it will take a month or more for the Commerce Department to instruct US Customs to require the deposit of dumping duties on imports of 4.75 mm wire rod from Mexico.

It should be noted that imports of wire rod from Deacero which are subject to the antidumping order on wire rod from Mexico are currently subject to a dumping duty deposit rate of zero (0.00%).  However, the Commerce Department is conducting an administrative review of wire rod from Deacero, and the Commerce Department’s preliminary result in this review is a dumping margin of 72.95%.  The Commerce Department is scheduled to issue its final result in this review by May 9, 2016.

Any members who are currently importing 4.75 mm wire rod from Mexico should contact counsel for advice/counsel regarding their individual situations.