US Commerce final countervailing duty determination on L-lysine from China; rates 82.11% and 48.21%

Mechanism

This is the companion countervailing-duty (subsidy) track to the antidumping case on the same product (see 2026-07-23-us-doc-lysine-china-antidumping-final). Commerce's Enforcement and Compliance unit investigated Chinese government subsidy programs benefiting L-lysine producers — the investigation was initiated in mid-2025 following the same domestic petition that triggered the AD case. The preliminary CVD determination (22 January 2026, case C-570-216) set initial subsidy-rate cash-deposit requirements and suspended liquidation on covered entries; Commerce then aligned the CVD final determination timeline with the parallel AD investigation so both were issued on 23 July 2026.

The 82.11% rate applies to Heilongjiang Wanlirunda Biotechnology and Shouguang Golden-land Industry & Trading; Inner Mongolia Eppen Biotech and all other Chinese exporters/producers not individually examined receive the 48.21% all-others rate. Both rates reflect countervailable subsidy programs (preferential lending, land-use and tax incentives, and other state-support mechanisms typical of Commerce CVD findings on Chinese chemical/biotech exporters) found during Commerce's verification process.

As with the AD case, a formal CVD order is contingent on the US International Trade Commission's parallel material-injury determination; an affirmative finding on either track (AD or CVD) is sufficient to trigger orders, but a fully negative ITC vote on both would terminate both proceedings and refund cash deposits.

Downstream implications

• Stacked with the 139.83%/73.55% AD rates on the same product, the CVD rates compound landed-cost

increases for Chinese lysine into the US market, reinforcing the sourcing-shift pressure toward Southeast Asian and South Korean producers (CJ CheilJedang, Ajinomoto affiliates) already documented in the AD action.

• The CVD case gives downstream US animal-feed and premix manufacturers a second, independent

basis (subsidy-based rather than dumping-based) for the duty exposure, reducing the odds that a favorable outcome on one track (e.g., an AD appeal) fully unwinds the trade barrier.

Open questions

• Whether the ITC's injury determination — due within 45 days of the final LTFV/CVD findings

(i.e., by ~early September 2026) — is affirmative on the CVD track independently of the AD track.

• Whether any of the named companies pursue a US Court of International Trade challenge to the

subsidy-rate calculations, as flagged as a live risk in the companion AD action.