CBSA Drops Subsidy Leg on Shaoneng Molded Fiber Tableware, Dumping Margin Still Applies

Partial Termination Under SIMA

On May 28, 2026, CBSA terminated the subsidy investigation for thermoformed molded fiber tableware originating from Shaoneng Group Luzhou Eco (XinFeng) Technology Co., Ltd. in China. The dumping investigation continues. This is a 41(1)(a) termination for the subsidy leg and a 41(1)(b) continuation for the dumping leg.

If you’re importing molded fiber tableware classified under HS 4823.69 or similar headings, and your supplier is Shaoneng, you no longer pay countervailing duties on those shipments. You still pay anti-dumping duties at whatever margin CBSA assigns in the final determination.

If your supplier is any other Chinese exporter of subject goods, both duties still apply until CBSA publishes their final determinations.

What Changed on Your CAD

Prior to May 28, importers of Shaoneng goods were filing provisional duties under both the dumping and subsidy investigations. Now you drop the subsidy line. Your CAD filing for Shaoneng shipments arriving after May 28 should reflect:

• Anti-dumping duty at the applicable margin (either company-specific or all-others rate, depending on what CBSA publishes)
• No countervailing duty
• Standard GST on the duty-paid value

If you’ve been posting financial security or an RPP bond sized to cover both duties, talk to your broker about adjusting the bond amount. The subsidy margin is gone, so your exposure dropped.

For non-Shaoneng Chinese exporters, nothing changes yet. You’re still on the hook for both duties until CBSA issues final determinations for those suppliers.

Why CBSA Terminates One Leg and Keeps the Other

Subsidy investigations fail when CBSA can’t establish that the foreign government provided actionable subsidies, or when the subsidy margin falls below de minimis thresholds. Dumping investigations survive when CBSA finds that the exporter sold goods into Canada at prices below normal value, causing or threatening material injury to Canadian producers.

Shaoneng likely demonstrated that their production and export pricing didn’t benefit from countervailable subsidies, or CBSA’s analysis came up short of the 1% de minimis threshold. The dumping margin evidently cleared CBSA’s bar, so that case continues.

This happens more often than importers expect. A dual-track SIMA investigation can split at final determination. One exporter gets relief on subsidies, another doesn’t. One gets hit with a 40% dumping margin, another gets 8%. It depends entirely on what each exporter put on the record during the investigation and what CBSA’s verification team found.

What You Should Do Now

If you import Shaoneng molded fiber tableware, pull your last three months of entries and confirm your broker is filing the correct duty treatment post-May 28. If you’ve got shipments that cleared between the preliminary and final determination dates, check whether you’re due a refund on the provisional countervailing duties you posted. CBSA will issue refund instructions, but it’s your responsibility to claim it within the limitation period.

If you’re sourcing from other Chinese exporters, wait for CBSA to publish the final determinations. The dumping and subsidy margins will vary by exporter. Once those determinations are public, your broker should update your standing CAD instructions to match the company-specific rates. If your supplier isn’t named in the determination, you’ll pay the “all-others” rate, which is usually the highest margin CBSA calculated.

SIMA cases also trigger CITT (Canadian International Trade Tribunal) injury reviews. The Tribunal has to find that dumped or subsidized imports caused or threatened material injury to the Canadian industry. If the CITT rules no injury, the entire case collapses and all duties get refunded. That ruling typically comes within 120 days of CBSA’s final determination. Don’t assume the case is over just because CBSA published margins.

Cross-Border Coordination

If you’re running a North American supply chain and importing molded fiber tableware into both Canada and the U.S., check whether the U.S. has a parallel case on the same goods from the same Chinese exporters. The U.S. International Trade Commission and Commerce Department run their own investigations. The margins won’t match, the scope definitions won’t match, and the timelines won’t sync. You can’t assume that a Canadian termination means anything for your U.S. entries.

CBSA publishes SIMA determinations on their enforcement and investigations page. If you’re managing compliance in-house, bookmark that page and set a calendar reminder to check it monthly. SIMA cases move slowly until they don’t.

Warehousing and Staging Considerations

If you’re holding inventory of subject goods at a Canadian sufferance warehouse while waiting for final duty treatment, the May 28 termination changes your release math. Dropping the subsidy duty reduces your release-prior-to-payment bond requirement and your cash outlay on final accounting.

For importers using Montreal as an entry point, FENGYE LOGISTICS runs a CBSA-bonded sufferance warehouse that handles SIMA-subject goods daily. If your shipment arrives mid-investigation and you’re not sure whether to release it on provisional duties or wait for the final determination, staging it in bond gives you time to decide without starting the compliance clock.

If your goods are temperature-sensitive or you’re working against a retail delivery window, waiting in bond isn’t always an option. But for shelf-stable tableware with flexible delivery dates, bonded storage is a legitimate planning tool when SIMA margins are still moving.

Final Determination Timeline

CBSA’s final dumping determination for Shaoneng and other Chinese exporters will come within the statutory timeline under SIMA. Importers should expect the final margins within 90 days of the preliminary determination, unless CBSA extends for complex cases. Once CBSA publishes, the provisional duties you posted get reconciled against the final rates, and you either owe the difference or get a refund.

The termination of the subsidy leg is final. There’s no provisional period for a terminated investigation. Shaoneng goods imported after May 28 are clean of countervailing duties, period.

If you’re filing CADs on Shaoneng shipments and your compliance process still has the old provisional subsidy duty baked into your standing instructions, fix it now. Overpaying CBSA doesn’t buy you goodwill, and clawing back overpaid duties six months later is paperwork you don’t need.

CBSA doesn’t usually issue termination notices by email to every affected importer. You find out by checking the SIMA registry or by reading the statement of reasons. If your broker isn’t monitoring these determinations on your behalf, that’s a gap.

We track SIMA cases for our clients as part of standard brokerage service. If your current broker didn’t flag the Shaoneng termination before you read it here, get in touch.

Source: CSCB