The U.S. Department of Commerce laid out new duties stretching upwards of 311% on imports of Chinese storage lockers Tuesday, firming up its earlier findings that the goods have benefited from unfair trade practices.

Commerce's final determinations close the book on its portion of a trade probe triggered by a petition from a group of U.S. locker manufacturers seeking duty relief. The agency found the Chinese lockers had been unfairly subsidized and dumped on the U.S. market at artificially low prices.

The agency set a 10.71% adjusted anti-dumping duty rate on Zhejiang Xingyi Metal Products Co. Ltd. and a number of other companies, while issuing a steep 311.77% duty for all other producers not probed in the case.

Notably, the department also spared Chinese producer Hangzhou Xline Machinery & Equipment Co. from paying anti-dumping duties after hitting the company with a 36.04% adjusted rate in its February preliminary ruling. The adjustment was made after Commerce examined new evidence relating to Hangzhou Xline, including a revised U.S. sales database and corrected responses to a Commerce questionnaire.

On the subsidy side of the case, Zhejiang was hit with a 24.66% countervailing duty rate for receiving support from several Chinese programs that gave it an unfair advantage over U.S. producers. That same rate will also be applied to all Chinese producers that were not investigated in the probe. A handful of other companies that did not cooperate with Commerce's investigation were hit with a 131.51% CVD rate.

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP attorney Elizabeth Johnson, who represented the U.S. producers that petitioned for the duties, told Law360 that the companies were "pleased" with Commerce's findings, noting that Chinese producers "have been selling these products into the domestic market at unfair prices for years."

Johnson added the firm is "closely examining" Commerce's decision not to apply anti-dumping duties to Hangzhou Xline.

The case will now shift to the U.S. International Trade Commission, which will have the final say on whether the duties take effect. The ITC will examine whether U.S. production has actually been injured by the imported goods and hold a vote on Aug. 12, according to a case schedule issued by Commerce.

Attorneys for the Chinese companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the final determination Wednesday.

U.S. petitioners DeBourgh Manufacturing Co., List Industries Inc., Penco Products Inc. and Tennsco LLC are represented by Elizabeth Johnson, Brooke M. Ringel, David C. Smith, Grace W. Kim, John M. Herrmann, Joshua Morey, Julia Kuelzow, Kathleen W. Cannon, Laurence J. Lasoff, Maliha Khan, Matthew Pereira, Melissa M Brewer, Michael J. Coursey, Paul C. Rosenthal and Robert Alan Luberda of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

Zhejiang and Hangzhou are represented by Brady W. Mills, Donald B. Cameron, Edward Thomas, Eugene Degnan, Jordan Fleischer, Julie C. Mendoza, Mary S. Hodgins, Nicholas Duffey and R. Will Planert of Morris Manning & Martin LLP.

The case is Certain Metal Lockers and Parts Thereof from the People's Republic of China, case numbers A-570-133 and C-570-134, before the United States Department of Commerce.

Source: Law 360