The United States Department of Commerce preliminarily found no evidence to support critical circumstances in the countervailing duty investigation of float glass products from Malaysia.
The announcement comes two months after Vitro Flat Glass and Vitro Meadville Flat Glass filed a critical circumstances allegation against Malaysian float glass imports. It also follows the Commerce Department’s preliminary determination that countervailing subsidies have been provided to producers and exporters of float glass products from China and Malaysia.
(Click here to see the recently released preliminary dumping rates included in the antidumping duty investigation of float glass products from China and Malaysia).
In its critical circumstances allegation, Vitro claims that imports of float glass products from Malaysia were massive (a 27.5% increase) over a relatively short period. To support its claims, Vitro provided import data from August 2024 through November 2024 and compared it to data from December 2024 through March 2025. It argues that there is a reasonable basis to believe that subsidies resulted in the drastic increase in imports.
According to the Commerce Department, imports are considered massive when they increase by 15% or more for at least three months immediately preceding the filing of a petition. In this case, the department compared the import volumes of float glass imports for an equivalent period preceding and following the petition filing on Nov. 21, 2024.
The department compared the total volume of shipments from June 2024 through November 2024 with the volume of shipments during the following six-month period, December 2024 through May 2025, for glass companies Jinjing Malaysia and Xinyi Malaysia. After comparing the data, it determined that critical circumstances do not exist regarding Jinjing Malaysia, Xinyi Malaysia and other producers and exporters.
Had the department made an affirmative finding of critical circumstances, it could have applied duties retroactively for a limited period (usually 90 days) before the preliminary determination of dumping or subsidization. An adverse finding means that the department does not require cash deposits or suspension of liquidation on entries before publication of the notice.
A final critical circumstances determination will be provided no later than Nov. 28, 2025.