[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 7 (Thursday, January 10, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2252-2254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-00349]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-985]


Xanthan Gum From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of 
Final Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') preliminarily 
determines that xanthan gum from the People's Republic of China 
(``PRC'') is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at 
less than fair value (``LTFV''), as provided in section 733 of the 
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). The weighted-average 
dumping margins are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section 
of this notice. The final determination will be issued 135 days after 
publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register.

DATES: Effective Date: January 10, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brandon Farlander or Erin Kearney, AD/
CVD Operations, Office 4, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone:

[[Page 2253]]

(202) 482-0182 or (202) 482-0167, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of this investigation covers dry xanthan gum, whether or 
not coated or blended with other products. Further, xanthan gum is 
included in this investigation regardless of physical form, including, 
but not limited to, solutions, slurries, dry powders of any particle 
size, or unground fiber.
    Xanthan gum that has been blended with other product(s) is included 
in this scope when the resulting mix contains 15 percent or more of 
xanthan gum by dry weight. Other products with which xanthan gum may be 
blended include, but are not limited to, sugars, minerals, and salts.
    Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide produced by aerobic fermentation of 
Xanthomonas campestris. The chemical structure of the repeating 
pentasaccharide monomer unit consists of a backbone of two P-1,4-D-
Glucose monosaccharide units, the second with a trisaccharide side 
chain consisting of P-D-Mannose-(1,4)- P-DGlucuronic acid-(1,2)-a-D-
Mannose monosaccharide units. The terminal mannose may be pyruvylated 
and the internal mannose unit may be acetylated.
    Merchandise covered by the scope of this investigation is 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States at 
subheading 3913.90.20. This tariff classification is provided for 
convenience and customs purposes; however, the written description of 
the scope is dispositive.

Methodology

    The Department has conducted this antidumping duty investigation in 
accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export prices and constructed 
export prices have been calculated in accordance with section 772 of 
the Act. Because the PRC is a non-market economy within the meaning of 
section 771(18) of the Act, normal value has been calculated in 
accordance with section 773(c) of the Act. Specifically, the 
respondents' factors of production (``FOPs'') have been valued using 
data from Thailand, the primary surrogate country, which is 
economically comparable to the PRC and is a significant producer of 
comparable merchandise.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary Determination of 
the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Xanthan Gum from the People's 
Republic of China'' from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant Secretary 
for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to Paul Piquado, 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated concurrently with 
this notice (``Preliminary Decision Memorandum'') and hereby adopted by 
this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document 
and is on file electronically via Import Administration's Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (``IA 
ACCESS''). IA ACCESS is available to registered users at http://iaaccess.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central 
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can 
be accessed directly on the Internet at http://www.trade.gov/ia/. The 
signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic versions of 
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Preliminary Determination

    The Department preliminarily determines that the following 
weighted-average dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted
                                                               average
             Exporter                      Producer            dumping
                                                                margin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neimenggu Fufeng Biotechnologies   Neimenggu Fufeng                21.69
 Co., Ltd. (aka Inner Mongolia      Biotechnologies Co.,
 Fufeng Biotechnologies Co.,        Ltd. (aka Inner
 Ltd.)/Shandong Fufeng              Mongolia Fufeng
 Fermentation Co., Ltd.             Biotechnologies Co.,
                                    Ltd.)/Shandong Fufeng
                                    Fermentation Co., Ltd.
Deosen Biochemical Ltd...........  Deosen Biochemical Ltd./       127.65
                                    Deosen Biochemical
                                    (Ordos) Ltd.
A.H.A. International Co., Ltd....  Shandong Fufeng                 74.67
                                    Fermentation Co., Ltd.
A.H.A. International Co., Ltd....  Deosen Biochemical Ltd..        74.67
CP Kelco (Shandong) Biological     CP Kelco (Shandong)             74.67
 Company Limited.                   Biological Company
                                    Limited.
Hebei Xinhe Biochemical Co. Ltd..  Hebei Xinhe Biochemical         74.67
                                    Co. Ltd.
Shanghai Smart Chemicals Co. Ltd.  Deosen Biochemical Ltd..        74.67
PRC-Wide Entity*.................  ........................       154.07
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The PRC-wide entity includes Shandong Yi Lian Cosmetics Co., Ltd.,
  Shanghai Echem Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd., Sinotrans Xiamen Logistics
  Co., Ltd., and Zibo Cargill HuangHelong Bioengineering Co., Ltd.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department will disclose calculations performed for this 
preliminary determination to the parties within five days of the date 
of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). 
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant 
Secretary for Import Administration no later than seven days after the 
date on which the final verification report is issued in this 
proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case 
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline 
date for case briefs.\1\ A table of contents, list of authorities used, 
and an executive summary of issues should accompany any briefs 
submitted to the Department. This summary should be limited to five 
pages total, including footnotes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Interested parties, who wish to request a hearing, or to 
participate if one is requested, must submit a written request to the 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, filed electronically using IA ACCESS. An electronically filed 
document must be received successfully in its entirety by the 
Department's electronic records system, IA ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern 
Standard Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this 
notice.\2\ Requests should contain the party's name, address, and 
telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues 
to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department 
intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue NW.,

[[Page 2254]]

Washington, DC 20230, at a time and location to be determined. Parties 
should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing 
two days before the scheduled date.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For the final determination in this investigation, interested 
parties may submit publicly available information to value the FOPs 
within 40 days after the publication of this preliminary 
determination.\3\ In accordance with 19 CFR 351.301(c)(1), for the 
final determination of this investigation, interested parties may 
submit factual information to rebut, clarify, or correct factual 
information submitted by any other interested party less than ten days 
before, on, or after, the applicable deadline for submission of such 
factual information. However, the Department notes that 19 CFR 
351.301(c)(1) permits new information only insofar as it rebuts, 
clarifies, or corrects information recently placed on the record. The 
Department generally will not accept the submission of additional, 
previously absent-from-the-record alternative surrogate value 
information.\4\ Additionally, for each piece of factual information 
submitted with surrogate value rebuttal comments, the interested party 
must provide a written explanation of what information that is already 
on the record of the ongoing proceeding the factual information is 
rebutting, clarifying, or correcting.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ See 19 CFR 351.301(c)(3)(i).
    \4\ See Glycine from the People's Republic of China: Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Final 
Rescission, in Part, 72 FR 58809 (October 17, 2007), and 
accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    Pursuant to requests from interested parties, we are postponing the 
final determination and extending the provisional measures from a four-
month period to not more than six months. Accordingly, we will make our 
final determination no later than 135 days after the date of 
publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 
735(a)(2) of the Act.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d) of the Act, the Department will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to suspend 
liquidation of all entries of xanthan gum from the PRC, as described in 
the ``Scope of the Investigation'' section, entered or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption, on or after the date of publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register.
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.205(d), the Department will instruct CBP to 
require a cash deposit \5\ equal to the weighted-average amount by 
which normal value exceeds U.S. price as follows: (1) The separate-rate 
weighted-average dumping margin for the exporter/producer combinations 
listed in the table above will be the rate the Department has 
determined in this preliminary determination; (2) for all combinations 
of PRC exporters/producers of merchandise under consideration which 
have not received their own separate-rate weighted-average dumping 
margin above, the cash-deposit rate will be the cash deposit rate 
established for the PRC-wide entity; and (3) for all non-PRC exporters 
of merchandise under consideration which have not received their own 
separate rate above, the cash deposit rate will be the cash deposit 
rate applicable to the PRC exporter/producer combination that supplied 
that non-PRC exporter. These cash deposit instructions will remain in 
effect until further notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ See Modification of Regulations Regarding the Practice of 
Accepting Bonds During the Provisional Measures Period in 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations, 76 FR 61042 
(October 3, 2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Trade Commission (``ITC'') Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our preliminary affirmative determination of sales at LTFV. 
Section 735(b)(2) of the Act requires the ITC to make its final 
determination as to whether the domestic industry in the United States 
is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of 
imports of xanthan gum, or sales (or the likelihood of sales) for 
importation, of the merchandise under consideration within 45 days of 
our final determination.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: January 3, 2013.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

1. Scope of the Investigation
2. Respondent Selection
3. Non-Market Economy Country
4. Surrogate Country
    a. Economic Comparability
    b. Significant Producers of Identical or Comparable Merchandise
    c. Data Availability
5. Surrogate Value Comments
6. Separate Rates
    a. Separate Rate Respondents
    b. Dumping Margin for the Separate Rate Companies
7. Date of Sale
8. Fair Value Comparisons
    a. Export Price
    b. Constructed Export Price
    c. Normal Value
    d. Factor Valuations
    e. Currency Conversion
9. Determination Not to Apply an Alternative Comparison Methodology
10. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Facts Available
11. Corroboration of Secondary Information
12. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures
13. Verification

[FR Doc. 2013-00349 Filed 1-9-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P