Taiwan Firm Faces Duties Over Brightening Agent Sales
Published Date: 7/14/2026
Notice
Summary
The U.S. Department of Commerce found that Teh Fong Min International from Taiwan sold stilbenic optical brightening agents at unfairly low prices between May 2024 and April 2025. This means they might have to pay extra duties to level the playing field for U.S. businesses. The decision kicks in starting July 14, 2026, and interested parties can still share their thoughts before it’s final.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 5 costs, 0 mixed.
Importer Certification and Double Duty Risk
Importers are required under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate about whether antidumping duties were reimbursed prior to liquidation of relevant entries during this review period. If an importer fails to file the certificate, Commerce may presume reimbursement occurred and could assess double antidumping duties.
Possible Importer-Specific Duty Assessments
If the final results show TFM's margin is not zero or de minimis (i.e., 0.50 percent or greater), Commerce will calculate importer-specific assessment rates and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will assess antidumping duties on appropriate entries in accordance with the final results. Commerce will issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier than 35 days after publication of the final results, and liquidation may be held pending injunction procedures that can last up to 90 days after publication.
Cash Deposit Rate Rules After Final Results
After the final results are published, the cash deposit rate for Teh Fong Min International will be the rate established in the final results, except if that rate is less than 0.50 percent (de minimis), in which case the cash deposit rate will be zero. The notice also states that the cash deposit rate for all other manufacturers or exporters will continue to be 6.19 percent, the all-others rate from the less-than-fair-value investigation.
Preliminary Dumping Finding and Margin
The Department of Commerce preliminarily found that Teh Fong Min International sold stilbenic optical brightening agents at less than normal value for the period May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025, and assigned a weighted-average dumping margin of 1.96 percent. This preliminary determination is effective July 14, 2026, and interested parties may submit comments before the final results are issued.
Automatic Assessment for Unknown-Destination Entries
For entries of subject merchandise produced by TFM for which TFM did not know the merchandise was destined for the United States, Commerce intends to instruct CBP to liquidate those entries at the all-others rate calculated in the less-than-fair-value investigation if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) involved. This follows Commerce's stated 'automatic assessment' practice.
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