USITC Filing Chinese Quartz Imports M S International Letter, 1 May 2018 | Page 2

The Honorable Wilbur L. Ross
May 1, 2018
Page 2
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statute and the Department’s regulations. 2/
In order to proceed with these investigations, Petitioner bears the burden of demonstrating
that its Petition is supported by (1) 25 percent (or more) of the total production of the domestic like
product, and (2) domestic producers or workers accounting for more than 50 percent of the
production of the domestic like product produced by those expressing support for or opposition to
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the Petition. 3/ Petitioner has failed to meet its burden here.
As an initial matter, and as acknowledged by the Department, Petitioner’s first attempt to
establish standing was deficient. Petitioner’s sole justification for meeting its burden in the Petition is
an affidavit from the President and CEO of Cambria who asserts that Cambria has five of the nine
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production lines for non-fabricated quartz surface products in the United States. 4/
Merely
comparing the number of production lines between the three producers of non-fabricated quartz
surface products is clearly an insufficient method to establish Petitioner’s standing—this is because
the different production lines could have different capacities or different utilization rates.
The Department thus issued a questionnaire to the Petitioner on April 20, 2018 warning that
the Petitioner’s attempt to establish standing was deficient. The Department asked Petitioner to
please provide an estimate of the 2017 production of the domestic
like product for the non-petitioning U.S. producers and provide an
industry support calculation based on the estimated total production
of the domestic like product by the U.S. quartz surface products
industry in calendar year 2017. 5/
In response, Petitioner applied the average per-line production volume achieved by Cambria in 2017
and claimed (without evidentiary support) that this average equates to the production of both of the
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Section 702(c)(4) and 732(c)(4) of the Tariff Act
19 U.S.C. §§ 1671a(c)(4), 1673a(c)(4); 19 C.F.R. § 351.203(b)(2).
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Section 702(c)(4)(A) and 732(c)(4)
19 U.S.C. §§ 1671a(c)(4)(A), 1673a(c)(4)(a).
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of
the
Tariff
Act
of
of
1930, as amended,
1930, as amended,
Petition, Exhibit I-3
Letter from Elizabeth Eastwood, Department of Commerce, to Mr. Luke A. Meisner, Schagrin
Associates, Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Imports of
Certain Quartz Surface Products from the People’s Republic of China: Supplemental Questions, A-
570-084 & C-570-085 (Apr. 20, 2018) (“Supplemental Questions”) at 5.