[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 7, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32107-32109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-15965]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-357-812]


Honey from Argentina: Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review and Determination to Revoke Order in Part

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: On December 30, 2008, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) published its preliminary results of the 2006-2007 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on honey from 
Argentina. This administrative review covers three firms which were 
selected as mandatory respondents, Asociacion de Cooperativas 
Argentinas (ACA), Patagonik S.A. (Patagonik), and Seylinco, S.A. 
(Seylinco), and one firm which was not selected as a mandatory 
respondent, Compania Inversora Platense S.A. (CIPSA). Based on our 
revised cost of production analysis, the final results margin for 
Patagonik has changed from the preliminary results. In addition, we are 
revoking the order with respect to Seylinco.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 7, 2009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maryanne Burke for Seylinco, David 
Cordell for Patagonik, Deborah Scott for ACA and CIPSA, or Robert 
James, Office 7, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
5604, (202) 482-0408, (202) 482-2657 or (202) 482-0649, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On December 30, 2008, the Department published in the Federal 
Register the preliminary results of the administrative review of the 
antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina for the period December 
1, 2006 to November 30, 2007. See Honey from Argentina: Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Intent to Revoke 
Order in Part, 73 FR 79802 (December 30, 2008) (Preliminary Results).
    On December 31, 2008, Patagonik filed a response to the section D 
supplemental questionnaire the Department had issued on November 19, 
2008. On February 3, 2009, the Department issued Patagonik a second 
supplemental questionnaire for section D, to which Patagonik responded 
on March 2, 2009.
    On February 9, 2009, Patagonik submitted what it termed a minor 
correction to its section B response. Specifically, Patagonik argued 
that due to a clerical error on one invoice, the color of the honey 
supplied to the customer differed from the color of the honey specified 
on the invoice. Patagonik argued this information was not new but 
rather was typical of a minor correction that would have been 
identified had the Department verified Patagonik's responses. Patagonik 
urged the Department to use this information because it was the most 
accurate information available. Petitioners (the American Honey 
Producers Association and Sioux Honey Association) objected to 
Patagonik's submission in a letter dated February 17, 2009. On February 
18, 2009, and March 9, 2009, the Department issued supplemental 
questionnaires to Patagonik regarding its February 9, 2009, submission. 
Patagonik

[[Page 32108]]

filed responses to these supplemental questionnaires on March 4, 2009, 
and March 23, 2009, respectively.
    In response to the Department's invitation to comment on the 
Preliminary Results, petitioners, ACA, CIPSA, Patagonik, and Seylinco 
filed case briefs on April 8, 2009. Petitioners, Patagonik, and 
Seylinco submitted rebuttal briefs on April 20, 2009. In addition, 
Seylinco filed comments on petitioners' rebuttal brief on April 21, 
2009.

Period of Review

    The period of review (POR) is December 1, 2006 to November 30, 
2007.

Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the order is honey from Argentina. The 
products covered are natural honey, artificial honey containing more 
than 50 percent natural honey by weight, preparations of natural honey 
containing more than 50 percent natural honey by weight, and flavored 
honey. The subject merchandise includes all grades and colors of honey 
whether in liquid, creamed, comb, cut comb, or chunk form, and whether 
packaged for retail or in bulk form. The merchandise is currently 
classifiable under subheadings 0409.00.00, 1702.90.90, and 2106.90.99 
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). 
Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs 
purposes, the Department's written description of the merchandise under 
this order is dispositive.

Determination to Revoke Order, in Part

    The Department may revoke, in whole or in part, an antidumping duty 
order upon completion of a review under section 751 of the Tariff Act 
of 1930, as amended (the Act). While Congress has not specified the 
procedures that the Department must follow in revoking an order, the 
Department has developed a procedure for revocation that is described 
in 19 CFR 351.222. This regulation requires, inter alia, that a company 
requesting revocation must submit the following: (1) a certification 
that the company has sold the subject merchandise at not less than 
normal value (NV) in the current review period and that the company 
will not sell subject merchandise at less than NV in the future; (2) a 
certification that the company sold commercial quantities of the 
subject merchandise to the United States in each of the three years 
forming the basis of the request; and (3) an agreement to immediate 
reinstatement of the order if the Department concludes that the 
company, subsequent to the revocation, sold subject merchandise at less 
than NV. See 19 CFR 351.222(e)(1). Upon receipt of such a request, the 
Department will consider: (1) whether the company in question has sold 
subject merchandise at not less than normal value (NV) for a period of 
at least three consecutive years; (2) whether the company has agreed in 
writing to its immediate reinstatement in the order, as long as any 
exporter or producer is subject to the order, if the Department 
concludes that the company, subsequent to the revocation, sold the 
subject merchandise at less than NV; and (3) whether the continued 
application of the antidumping duty order is otherwise necessary to 
offset dumping. See 19 CFR 351.222(b)(2).
    On December 31, 2007, pursuant to section 751(d) of the Act and 19 
CFR 351.222(b)(2), Seylinco requested revocation of the antidumping 
duty order with respect to its sales of subject merchandise. Seylinco's 
request was accompanied by certification that it: (1) sold the subject 
merchandise at not less than NV during the current POR and will not 
sell the merchandise at less than NV in the future; (2) sold subject 
merchandise to the United States in commercial quantities for a period 
of at least three consecutive years; and (3) agreed to immediate 
reinstatement of the antidumping duty order, as long as any exporter or 
producer is subject to the order, if the Department concludes that, 
subsequent to the revocation, Seylinco sold the subject merchandise at 
less than NV.
    In the Preliminary Results, we determined that Seylinco's request 
meets all of the criteria under 19 CFR 351.222(e)(1) and that 
revocation is warranted pursuant to 19 CFR 351.222(b)(2). See 
Preliminary Results, 73 FR at 79804-05 and Memorandum to Gary Taverman, 
``Request by Seylinco, S.A. for Revocation in the Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review of Honey from Argentina,'' dated December 19, 
2008. We have not altered our findings for these final results. 
Therefore, we find that Seylinco qualifies for revocation of the 
antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina under 19 CFR 
351.222(b)(2) and, accordingly, we are revoking the order with respect 
to subject merchandise exported by Seylinco.\1\ For further discussion, 
see the accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 1.
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    \1\ Only exports by Seylinco in which Seylinco is the first 
party with knowledge of the U.S. destination of the merchandise are 
covered by this revocation.
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Effective Date of Revocation

    The revocation of Seylinco applies to all entries of subject 
merchandise that are exported by Seylinco, and are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after December 1, 2007. 
The Department will order the suspension of liquidation ended for all 
such entries and will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
to release any cash deposits or bonds. The Department also will 
instruct CBP to refund with interest any cash deposits on entries made 
on or after December 1, 2007.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this administrative review are addressed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum. A list of issues addressed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum is appended to this notice. The Issues and Decision 
Memorandum is on file in the Central Records Unit (CRU), Room 1117 of 
the main Commerce Building and can be accessed directly on the web at 
http://ia.ita.doc.gov/frn/index.html.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

    Based on the information Patagonik submitted in response to the 
Department's supplemental section D questionnaires, we have made 
adjustments to the beekeepers' and middleman's costs. We relied on the 
cost data submitted by the two beekeeper respondents and the middleman 
in their cost questionnaire responses, except as follows.
    1. Because the middleman was unable to provide financial statements 
or corporate tax returns for 2007, we used the middleman's verified 
cost data from the 2004-2005 new shipper review of honey from 
Argentina. See Memorandum to the File, ``Administrative Review of Honey 
from Argentina,'' dated March 30, 2009, where the Department placed 
Attachment A of the 2004-2005 Honey from Argentina New Shipper Review 
memorandum, ``Cost of Production and Constructed Value Calculation 
Adjustments for the Preliminary Results - Patagonik S.A. Beekeeper 
Respondents.'' See also Honey from Argentina: Preliminary Results of 
New Shipper Review, 71 FR 67850 (November 24, 2006); unchanged in Honey 
from Argentina: Final Results of New Shipper Review, 72 FR 19177 (April 
17, 2007).
    2. We calculated land rental cost for Beekeeper 1 based on the 
market value of honey as payment-in-kind

[[Page 32109]]

for land use.
    3. We adjusted Beekeeper 2's rent costs to reflect the market value 
for bartered honey.
For additional details, see Memorandum to Neal M. Halper, Director of 
Office of Accounting, ``Cost of Production and Constructed Value 
Calculation Adjustments for the Final Results - Patagonik S.A.'s - 
Beekeeper Respondents / Collector of Honey,'' dated June 29, 2009. We 
note the changes identified above have an effect on the final margin, 
and in fact we find sales below cost.
    We also reclassified Patagonik's reported third country warranty 
expense as post-sale price adjustments granted by Patagonik in order to 
maintain good customer relations. See the accompanying Issues and 
Decision Memorandum at Comment 4 and the Analysis Memorandum for the 
Final Results of the Antidumping Duty Review of Honey from Argentina 
(A-357-812) for Patagonik S.A. (Patagonik).

Final Results of Review

    We determine that the following dumping margins exist for the 
period December 1, 2006 through November 30, 2007.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Weighted Average
                      Exporter                              Margin
                                                         (percentage)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACA.................................................                0.00
CIPSA...............................................             0.77\2\
Patagonik S.A.......................................                0.77
Seylinco............................................                0.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ This rate is based on the average of the margins calculated in this
  review, other than those which were zero, de minimis, or based on
  total facts available.

Assessment

    The Department shall determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping 
duties on all appropriate entries. In accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(b)(1), we have calculated duty assessment rates which will be 
applied to all ACA, CIPSA,\3\ Patagonik, and Seylinco entries made 
during the POR. The Department intends to issue appropriate assessment 
instructions directly to CBP 15 days after publication of these final 
results of review.
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    \3\ The assessment rate for CIPSA will be the same as the cash 
deposit rate assigned to that company.
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    The Department clarified its automatic assessment regulation on May 
6, 2003 (68 FR 23954). This clarification will apply to entries of 
subject merchandise during the POR produced by companies included in 
these final results of review for which the reviewed companies did not 
know their merchandise was destined for the United States. In such 
instances, we will instruct CBP to liquidate unreviewed entries at the 
all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) 
involved in the transaction. For a full discussion of this 
clarification, see Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: 
Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the final results of this administrative review for all 
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of these 
final results, consistent with section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) for 
the companies covered by this review, the cash deposit rate will be the 
rate listed above except for Seylinco, which is revoked from the order; 
(2) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, but was 
covered in a previous review or the original less than fair value 
(LTFV) investigation, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the 
company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the 
exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the 
original LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit 
rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the 
manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) if neither the exporter nor 
the manufacturer is a firm covered in this or any previous review 
conducted by the Department, the cash deposit rate will continue to be 
30.24 percent, which is the all-others rate established in the LTFV 
investigation. See Notice of Antidumping Duty Order; Honey From 
Argentina, 66 FR 63672 (December 10, 2001). These deposit requirements, 
when imposed, shall remain in effect until publication of the final 
results of the next administrative review.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice also serves as a final reminder to importers of their 
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate regarding 
the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the 
relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this 
requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of doubled antidumping duties.
    This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective orders (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305, which continues 
to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the 
proceeding. Timely written notification of the return/destruction of 
APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby 
requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and terms of an APO 
is a violation, which is subject to sanction.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act.

    Dated: June 29, 2009.
John M. Andersen,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Operations.

Appendix - List of Comments in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

Comment 1: Revocation of the Order with Respect to Seylinco, S.A. 
(Seylinco)
Comment 2: Patagonik S.A.'s (Patagonik's) Proposed Change to Reported 
Honey Color
Comment 3: Use of Facts Available for Patagonik
Comment 4: Treatment of Patagonik's U.K Warranty Expense
Comment 5: Treatment of Asociaci[oacute]n de Cooperativas Argentinas' 
(ACA's) Testing Expenses
Comment 6: Appropriate Margin to Assign to Compa[ntilde][iacute]a 
Inversora Platense S.A. (CIPSA)
[FR Doc. E9-15965 Filed 7-6-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S