Anti-dumping comparison and like-article test: weighted-average pricing and close product similarity govern levy inclusion.

Anti-dumping duty must be based on a fair comparison of export price and normal value at the same level of trade and as nearly as possible the same time, using weighted averages for investigation-stage dumping analysis; the duty on the Saudi exporter was recalculated and reduced accordingly. A product is a like article only if it closely resembles the goods under investigation, not merely because it may be substitutable in use. On that test, Normal Hexanol was not a like article and its inclusion in the levy was unsustainable, while Nonanol was also not shown to be comparable and its exclusion from the levy was upheld.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether the dumping margin for the Saudi exporter had to be determined by a fair comparison of export price with normal value at or about the same time and on a weighted-average basis; (ii) Whether Normal Hexanol was a like article to the goods under investigation so as to justify inclusion in the anti-dumping levy; (iii) Whether Nonanol was a like article and therefore ought to have been included in the investigation and levy.

Issue (i): Whether the dumping margin for the Saudi exporter had to be determined by a fair comparison of export price with normal value at or about the same time and on a weighted-average basis.

Analysis: The comparison required by the anti-dumping rules had to be fair and made at the same level of trade and at as nearly as possible the same time. The normal value could not properly be fixed by reference to the date on which the indent was placed when the export consignments were manufactured and exported later. The existence of dumping during the investigation phase was also to be established normally on the basis of a comparison of weighted average normal value and weighted average export prices.

Conclusion: The duty for the Saudi exporter had to be recalculated on the basis of weighted averages, and the anti-dumping duty was reduced accordingly.

Issue (ii): Whether Normal Hexanol was a like article to the goods under investigation so as to justify inclusion in the anti-dumping levy.

Analysis: A like article must have characteristics closely resembling those of the articles under investigation. It was not enough that products manufactured with its use might be substitutable. The materials placed before the Tribunal did not show that Normal Hexanol and the other oxo alcohols were interchangeable or that they had closely resembling characteristics. On the contrary, Normal Hexanol was not produced by the domestic industry and its import could not be treated as causing injury on the footing adopted by the authority.

Conclusion: Normal Hexanol was not a like article and its inclusion in the levy was unsustainable.

Issue (iii): Whether Nonanol was a like article and therefore ought to have been included in the investigation and levy.

Analysis: The record did not establish that Nonanol had characteristics similar to the articles under investigation or that it was shown in the literature as comparable to the other plasticizer-producing oxo alcohols. The authority had also not found it to be a like article. No basis was shown to disturb that view.

Conclusion: Nonanol was not a like article and its exclusion from the levy was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The challenge succeeded only in part: the anti-dumping duty on the Saudi exporter was reduced, Normal Hexanol was deleted from the notified goods, and the exclusion of Nonanol was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Anti-dumping duty must rest on a fair, contemporaneous and weighted-average comparison of export price and normal value, and a product can be treated as a like article only if it is shown to have characteristics closely resembling the goods under investigation, not merely because products made from it may be substitutable.

---