Although the overall product-matching concept is straightforward, the manner in which the Commerce Department engages in appropriate product comparisons has some quirks, First, it is the Commerce Department (and not the foreign manufacturer) that derArmirics which products sold in the home market are IdemilW".tojt.b products sold to the United tates. This is normally done after the Commerce  Department reviews descriptions of the product provided by both the United States petitioners and the respondent exporters. Commerce Department may also consult with government or industry experts outside of the ease to assist it in determining how products should be. compared,

 

Not only does Commerce Department identify the most important physical characteristics of the targeted merchandise, but it also establishes a specific hierarchy among them, In theory, the Commerce Department identifies a hierarchy of physical characteristics based on those physical characteristics which the industry considers most important with respect to pricing. In practice, however, the Commerce beparttnent's approach to product-matching is sometimes incomprehensible to the foreign manufacturer. For example, in the flat-rolled siiiicases the Commerce Department determined that whether a corrosion-resistant coil was painted or not painted was an important physical characteristic. However, the Commerce Department did not allow for any differences among painting types, even though such differences could result in several hundred dollars' difference in prices. That is, in the flat-rolled steel cases the Commerce Department ruled that a home market product was 'identical' to a United States product, and therefore no difference-in-merchandise adjustments would be allowed when comparing prices, even though there could be significant differences in the painting type.

 

Accordingly, the foreign company needs to be prepared for the methodology that the Commerce Department adopts for determining which home market products are the best matches for products sold to the United States for purposes of the anti-dumping calculation to be quite different from the methodology that the company would adopt. Such difference may cause the Commerce Department's dumping margin calculation to be different from the foreign company's own guess as to the estimated margin.

 

Source: Business Guide to Trade Remedies in the United States: Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguards legislation practices and procedures