The decision by the WTO was preliminary and could be appealed by Washington, a spokeswoman for the ministry told Reuters.
U.S. Trade Representative office spokeswoman Nefeterius McPherson confirmed that the WTO had made an interim report on the case, but said it was still subject to possible revision.
"Any discussion of appeal or compliance with findings is premature," she said.
Brazil requested a dispute panel at the WTO last year to challenge the U.S. measures against Brazilian orange juice imports. Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of orange juice, has said that the U.S. measures were hurting local producers.
In 2008, Brazilian authorities called U.S. representatives for consultations over anti-dumping investigations, a first step to opening a WTO trade dispute.
Brazil's challenge was aimed at Washington's use of "zeroing" for assessing duties on goods that are allegedly "dumped," or imported for less than they cost at home.
In zeroing, the importing authorities ignore shipments where imported goods are higher than domestic market prices and could potentially offset separate below-market shipments from the country.
Many countries argue that this practice skews the average price of goods from a given country.
"It is good news," Christian Lohbauer, a spokesman for Citrus BR, the association grouping Brazil's four main juice exporters, told Reuters.
"We were expecting it because the practice of zeroing in the calculation has been contested by other countries in other sectors and the U.S. has lost."
Brazilian juice exports are expected to total around $2 billion dollars this year. Lohbauer said the United States accounted for about 15 to 20 percent of Brazil's total juice exports but said it was a shrinking market.
Brazil has successfully challenged U.S. cotton subsidies and EU sugar subsidies in recent years at the WTO. Brazilian sugar producers and exporters have benefited from Brazil's victory at the WTO over European sugar subsidies. (Reuters)
