(82) On 4 March 2022, the Commission informed by a note (‘the First Note’) interested parties on the relevant sources it intended to use for the determination of the normal value. In that note, the Commission provided a list of all factors of production such as raw materials, labour and energy used in the production of aspartame. In addition, based on the criteria guiding the choice of undistorted prices or benchmarks, the Commission identified possible representative countries, namely Argentina, Malaysia and Thailand as an appropriate representative country. The Commission received comments from Changmao on the First Note.
(83) On 28 April 2022, the Commission informed by a second note (‘the Second Note’) interested parties on the relevant sources it intended to use for the determination of the normal value, with Malaysia as the representative country. It also informed interested parties that it would establish selling, general and administrative costs (‘SG&A’) and profits based on data of the company Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad (‘Ajinomoto Malaysia’), a manufacturer of food, seasoning and synthetic sweeteners in Malaysia. No comments were received.
3.3.
Normal value
(84) According to Article 2(1) of the basic Regulation, ‘
the normal value shall normally be based on the prices paid or payable, in the ordinary course of trade, by independent customers in the exporting country
’.
(85) However, according to Article 2(6a)(a) of the basic Regulation, ‘
in case it is determined […] that it is not appropriate to use domestic prices and costs in the exporting country due to the existence in that country of significant distortions within the meaning of point (b), the normal value shall be constructed exclusively on the basis of costs of production and sale reflecting undistorted prices or benchmarks
’, and ‘
shall include an undistorted and reasonable amount of administrative, selling and general costs and for profits
’ (‘a
dministrative, selling and general costs
’ is refereed hereinafter as ‘SG&A’).
(86) As further explained below, the Commission concluded in the present investigation that, based on the evidence available, and in view of the lack of cooperation of the GOC and the exporting producers, the application of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation was appropriate.
3.3.1.
Existence of significant distortions
(87) Even though the Commission did not investigate exports of aspartame in the context of Article 2(6a) in the past, in the recent investigation into another artificial sweetener in the PRC, notably acesulfame potassium (10), the Commission found that significant distortions in the sense of Article 2(6a)(b) of the basic Regulation were present. The Commission concluded in this investigation that, based on the evidence available, the application of Article 2(6a) of the basic Regulation was also appropriate.
(88) In that investigation, the Commission found that there is substantial government intervention in the PRC resulting in a distortion of the effective allocation of resources in line with market principles (11).
(89) In particular, the Commission concluded that in the acesulfame potassium sector, not only does a substantial degree of ownership by the GOC persist in the sense of Article 2(6a)(b), first indent of the basic Regulation (12) but the GOC is also in a position to interfere with prices and costs through State presence in firms in the sense of Article 2(6a)(b), second indent of the basic Regulation (13).