US Commerce Department Publishes Preliminary Results of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews

On Friday, January 27, 2023, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) published in the Federal Register two notices concerning “Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada.”

In a summary of the “Preliminary Results, Partial Rescission, and Preliminary Intent To Rescind, in Part, the Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 2021,” the DOC said:

“The US Department of Commerce preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain softwood lumber products (softwood lumber) from Canada during the period of review (POR), January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021. With respect to 66 companies, we are rescinding this administrative review because either the request for review of the company was timely withdrawn or the company did not have any reviewable entries of subject merchandise during the POR. Additionally, with respect to one company, we intend to rescind this administrative review. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.”

In a summary of the “Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,” the DOC said:

“The US Department of Commerce is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain softwood lumber products (softwood lumber) from Canada. The period of review (POR) is January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021. Commerce preliminarily determines that the producers/exporters subject to this review made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.”

The preliminary findings are summarized in the table below:

It is important to note that these findings are preliminary. Current deposit rates will not change until the DOC makes its final determination and publishes it in the Federal Register. We expect the final determination to be made and published in late August or early September. While these rates are preliminary, past precedent indicates that the final rates will be similar to the preliminary rates.

For perspective, if the final rates were the same as the preliminary ones, the changes to the countervailing and antidumping duties combined would be:

• Canfor’s current combined rate of 5.87% will increase to 7.29%.
• West Fraser’s current combined rate of 8.25% will increase to 9.38%.
• J.D. Irving’s current combined rate of 7.17% will increase to 7.77%.
• Most others will see their current combined rate of 8.59% decrease to 8.24%.

Full versions of the January 27th notices are published here for antidumping duties and here for countervailing duties.