US postpones preliminary actions for aluminum sheet CVD case

Pittsburgh — The US Department of Commerce on Tuesday said it would postpone the deadline for preliminary determinations from June 3 to August 7 in the countervailing duty investigations on common alloy aluminum sheet from Bahrain, Brazil, India and Turkey.

"According to the petitioner, additional time is necessary to allow Commerce to 'analyze fully the questionnaire responses, request any necessary clarifications and determine the extent to which counter available subsidies have benefited the respondents in the preliminary phase of these proceedings," the department said in a document published in the Federal Register.

The Aluminum Association Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet Trade Enforcement Working Group, which petitioned for the investigations, submitted the request for postponement on May 6, according to the document.

The Commerce initiated the countervailing duty investigations on March 30.

Though preliminary determinations are due within 65 days of the onset of such investigations, the department retains the ability to extend the deadline to 130 days if a petitioner submits a timely request for postponement with valid reasoning that meets specific requirements.

The deadline for the final determinations of the investigations will continue to be 75 days after preliminary determinations are released, unless postponed at a later date, the department said.

The countervailing duty investigations are being conducted concurrently with a larger anti-dumping investigation on imports of aluminum sheet from 18 countries.

Preliminary determinations for the anti-dumping cases are due by August 17.

In a separate April ruling, the United States International Trade Commission determined the aluminum sheet imports subject to both investigations, representing about 31% of total US consumption, have materially injured a domestic industry.