[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 188 (Wednesday, September 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59999-60001]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24998]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-549-821]


Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags From Thailand: Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

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

SUMMARY: On May 24, 2011, the Department of Commerce published the 
preliminary results of the 2009/2010 administrative review of the 
antidumping duty order on polyethylene retail carrier bags from 
Thailand. We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the 
preliminary results. Based on our analysis of the comments received and 
an examination of our calculations, we have made certain changes for 
the final results. The final weighted-average dumping margins for the 
respondents are listed below in the ``Final Results of Review'' section 
of this notice.

DATES: Effective Date: September 28, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryan Hansen or Dustin Ross, AD/CVD

[[Page 60000]]

Operations, Office 5, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-
3683 or (202) 482-0747, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 24, 2011, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
published Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags From Thailand: Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 76 FR 30102 (May 24, 
2011) (Preliminary Results), in the Federal Register. The 
administrative review covers 11 companies. The period of review is 
August 1, 2009, through July 31, 2010.
    We invited parties to comment on the Preliminary Results. On June 
23, 2011, we received case briefs from the Polyethylene Retail Carrier 
Bag Committee and its individual members, Hilex Poly Co., LLC, and 
Superbag Corporation (collectively, the petitioners), and the 
respondents, Thai Plastic Bags Industries Co., Ltd. (TPBI), and 
Landblue (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Landblue). We also received case briefs 
from Inteplast Group Ltd. and Master Packaging Inc. which qualify as 
interested parties as importers of subject merchandise. On June 28, 
2011, we received rebuttal briefs from the interested parties. We did 
not hold a hearing as the only request for a hearing was withdrawn. See 
the petitioners' letter dated June 29, 2011.
    We have conducted this review in accordance with section 751(a) of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).

Scope of the Order

    The merchandise subject to the antidumping duty order is 
polyethylene retail carrier bags (PRCBs) which may be referred to as t-
shirt sacks, merchandise bags, grocery bags, or checkout bags. The 
subject merchandise is defined as non-sealable sacks and bags with 
handles (including drawstrings), without zippers or integral extruded 
closures, with or without gussets, with or without printing, of 
polyethylene film having a thickness no greater than 0.035 inch (0.889 
mm) and no less than 0.00035 inch (0.00889 mm), and with no length or 
width shorter than 6 inches (15.24 cm) or longer than 40 inches (101.6 
cm). The depth of the bag may be shorter than 6 inches but not longer 
than 40 inches (101.6 cm).
    PRCBs are typically provided without any consumer packaging and 
free of charge by retail establishments, e.g., grocery, drug, 
convenience, department, specialty retail, discount stores, and 
restaurants, to their customers to package and carry their purchased 
products. The scope of the order excludes (1) Polyethylene bags that 
are not printed with logos or store names and that are closeable with 
drawstrings made of polyethylene film and (2) polyethylene bags that 
are packed in consumer packaging with printing that refers to specific 
end-uses other than packaging and carrying merchandise from retail 
establishments, e.g., garbage bags, lawn bags, trash-can liners.
    Imports of the subject merchandise are currently classifiable under 
statistical category 3923.21.0085 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS). Furthermore, although the HTSUS subheading 
is provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope of the order is dispositive.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case briefs by parties to this review are 
addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Review of Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from 
Thailand for the Period of Review August 1, 2009, through July 31, 2010 
(Decision Memo), which is dated concurrently with this notice and 
hereby adopted by this notice. A list of the issues which parties have 
raised and to which we have responded is in the Decision Memo and 
attached to this notice as an Appendix. The Decision Memo, which is a 
public document, is on file in the Department's Central Records Unit of 
the main Commerce building, Room 7046, and is accessible on the Web at 
http://ia.ita.doc.gov/frn/index.html. The paper copy and electronic 
version of the Decision Memo are identical in content.

Non-Selected Companies

    As discussed in the Preliminary Results, 76 FR at 30103-30104, we 
preliminarily determined to apply the weighted-average margin we 
calculated using the public ranged U.S. sales values Landblue and TPBI 
submitted for the record of this review and their weighted-average 
margins to the firms not examined individually in this review. We 
received no comments on the use of this rate. Therefore, for these 
final results of review, we have applied the rate we have calculated 
using the weighted-average margins of Landblue and TPBI as applied to 
the public ranged U.S. sales values they submitted to the companies 
which were not selected for individual examination.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

    For our calculation of TPBI's margin for the final results, we 
revised the general and administrative and financial expenses of TPBI 
to reflect data in its 2010 financial statements. See the memoranda to 
the file entitled ``Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from Thailand--
Thai Plastic Bags Industries Co., Ltd. (TPBI), Final Results Analysis 
Memorandum'' dated September 21, 2011, and ``Cost of Production and 
Constructed Value Calculation Adjustments for the Final Results--Thai 
Plastic Bags Industries Co. (TPBI), Ltd.'' dated September 21, 2011, 
for details regarding these changes.
    For our calculation of Landblue's margin for the final results, we 
made the following changes: (1) We adjusted Landblue's general and 
administrative (G&A) expense ratio to include in the numerator the 
unreconciled difference between the administrative expenses from the 
2010 financial statements and those reflected in the 2010 trial 
balance, (2) we revised Landblue's G&A ratio to reflect the cost of 
goods sold from the 2010 financial statements, (3) we set Landblue's 
negative interest expense ratio to zero, (4) for constructed value (CV) 
selling expenses we used publicly available total selling expenses from 
a company not currently under review, Thantawan Industry Public Company 
Limited (Thantawan), adjusted to reflect Landblue's ratio of indirect 
expenses to total selling expenses, (5) we used data from the record of 
Thantawan's 2010 financial statements to calculate a revised ratio for 
CV profit which reflects Landblue's profit as a percentage of total 
costs for bag products only, and (6) we included management-benefits 
expenses from Thantawan's 2010 financial statements in the denominator 
of the revised ratio for CV profit for Landblue. See the memoranda to 
the file entitled ``Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from Thailand--
Landblue (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Final Results Analysis Memorandum'' 
dated September 21, 2011, and ``Constructed Value Calculation 
Adjustments for the Final Results--Landblue Thailand Co., Ltd.'' dated 
September 21, 2011, for details regarding these changes.
    We have corrected the spelling of the company name for ``Hi-Pak 
Company Limited'' which in the Initiation Notice and Preliminary 
Results reflected the spelling provided by the petitioners in their 
request for review. We based the correction on the spelling Hi-Pak 
Company Limited provided in its statement of no shipments during the 
period of review.

[[Page 60001]]

Sales Below Cost in the Home Market

    As explained in the Preliminary Results, 76 FR at 30104, in 
accordance with section 773(b) of the Act, the Department tested 
whether TPBI made sales at prices below the cost of production. For 
these final results of review and based on the statutory criteria 
concerning below-cost sales, the Department disregarded home-market 
sales by TPBI that failed the cost-of-production test.

Final Results of Review

    As a result of our review, we determine that the following 
percentage weighted-average dumping margins exist for PRCBs from 
Thailand for the period August 1, 2009, through July 31, 2010:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Margin
                      Producer/exporter                        (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Pack Co. Ltd...........................................      28.59
Hi-Pak Company Limited.......................................      (\1\)
ITW Minigrip (Thailand) Co., Ltd.............................      (\2\)
K International Packaging Co., Ltd...........................      28.59
Landblue (Thailand) Co., Ltd.................................      25.53
Praise Home Industry, Co. Ltd................................      28.59
Siam Flexible Industries Co., Ltd............................      28.59
Thai Jirun Co., Ltd..........................................      28.59
Thai Plastic Bags Industries Co., Ltd........................      35.71
Trinity Pac Co. Ltd..........................................      28.59
U. Yong Industry Co., Ltd....................................      28.59
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ No shipment or sales subject to this review. This firm has no
  individual rate from a previous segment of this proceeding.
\2\ No shipment or sales subject to this review. This firm has no
  individual rate from a previous segment of this proceeding.

Assessment Rates

    The Department shall determine and U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) shall assess antidumping duties on all appropriate 
entries.
    We calculated importer/customer-specific duty-assessment amounts 
with respect to sales by Landblue and TPBI by dividing the total 
dumping margins (calculated as the difference between normal value and 
the export price) for each importer or customer by the total number of 
kilograms Landblue and TPBI sold to that importer or customer. We will 
direct CBP to assess the resulting per-kilogram dollar amount against 
each kilogram of merchandise on each of that importer's or customer's 
entries during the period of review. See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
    Because the order on PRCBs from Thailand was revoked in part with 
respect to TPBI effective July 28, 2010, we will instruct CBP to assess 
antidumping duties with respect to TPBI on entries made through July 
27, 2010. For further information, see Notice of Implementation of 
Determination Under Section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act and 
Partial Revocation of the Antidumping Duty Order on Polyethylene Retail 
Carrier Bags From Thailand, 75 FR 48940 (August 12, 2010) (Section 129 
Determination).
    The Department clarified its ``automatic assessment'' regulation on 
May 6, 2003. This clarification will apply to entries of subject 
merchandise during the period of review produced by Landblue, TPBI, Hi-
Pak Company Limited, and ITW Minigrip (Thailand) Co., Ltd., for which 
they did not know that the merchandise they sold to an intermediary 
(e.g., a reseller, trading company, or exporter) 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 
intermediary(ies) involved in the transaction. See Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 68 
FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
    For the companies which were not selected for individual 
examination and which did not submit statements of no shipments, we 
will instruct CBP to apply the rates listed above to all entries of 
subject merchandise produced and/or exported by such firms.
    We intend to issue liquidation instructions to CBP 15 days after 
publication of these final results of review.

Cash-Deposit Requirements

    With the exception of TPBI as a result of the revocation, the 
following deposit requirements will be effective upon publication of 
these final results of administrative review for all shipments of the 
subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the date of publication consistent with section 
751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash-deposit rates for the companies 
subject to the review will be the rates shown above; (2) for previously 
investigated or reviewed companies not listed above, 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 
or a previous review or the original less-than-fair-value (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; (4) the cash-deposit rate for all other manufacturers 
or exporters will be 4.69 percent, the all-others rate from the amended 
final determination of the LTFV investigation revised as a result of 
the Section 129 determination published on August 12, 2010. See Section 
129 Determination.
    These deposit requirements shall remain in effect until further 
notice.

Notification Requirements

    This notice serves as a 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 Department'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 order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely notification of the 
destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order 
is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and the 
terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.
    We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(5).

    Dated: September 21, 2011.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix

1. General and Administrative Expenses.
2. Financial Expense.
3. CV Profit.
4. CV Selling Expenses.
5. Zeroing.

[FR Doc. 2011-24998 Filed 9-27-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P