[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 117 (Thursday, June 18, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34891-34893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14973]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-020]


Melamine From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

DATES: Effective date June 18, 2015.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') preliminarily 
determines that melamine 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 period of investigation (``POI'') 
is April 1, 2014, through September 30, 2014. The estimated margin of 
sales at LTFV is shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of 
this notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on this 
preliminary determination.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Terpstra, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
3965.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department published the notice of 
initiation of this investigation on December 9, 2014.\1\ Pursuant to 
section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act, on March 12, 2015, the Department 
postponed this preliminary LTFV determination by a period of 50 
days.\2\
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    \1\ See Melamine from the People's Republic of China and 
Trinidad and Tobago: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigations, 79 FR 73037 (December 9, 2014) (``Initiation 
Notice'').
    \2\ See Melamine from the People's Republic of China and 
Trinidad and Tobago: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations of 
Antidumping Duty Investigations, 80 FR 12979 (March 12, 2015).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation is melamine (Chemical 
Abstracts Service (``CAS'') registry number 108-78-01, molecular 
formula C3H6N6).\3\ Melamine is a 
crystalline powder or granule typically (but not exclusively) used to 
manufacture melamine formaldehyde resins. All melamine is covered by 
the scope of this investigation irrespective of purity, particle size, 
or physical form. Melamine that has been blended with other products is 
included within this scope when such blends include constituent parts 
that have been intermingled, but that have not been chemically reacted 
with each other to produce a different product. For such blends, only 
the melamine component of the mixture is covered by the scope of these 
investigations. Melamine that is otherwise subject to this 
investigation is not excluded when commingled with melamine from 
sources not subject to this investigation. Only the subject component 
of such commingled products is covered by the scope of this 
investigation.
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    \3\ Melamine is also known as 2,4,6-triamino-s-triazine; l,3,5-
Triazine-2,4,6-triamine; Cyanurotriamide; Cyanurotriamine; 
Cyanuramide; and by various brand names.

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[[Page 34892]]

    The subject merchandise is provided for in subheading 2933.61.0000 
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTSUS''). 
Although the HTSUS subheading and CAS registry number are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope 
is dispositive.

Methodology

    The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Because the mandatory respondents \4\ in this 
investigation either withdrew from the proceeding or did not cooperate 
to the best of their ability with the Department's requests for 
information, the Department preliminarily determines that the 
application of adverse facts available (``AFA'') is warranted for this 
preliminary determination, in accordance with section 776 of the Act 
and 19 CFR 351.308. As a part of the application of AFA, we are 
treating the mandatory respondents as part of the PRC-wide entity. 
Because the PRC-wide entity also failed to cooperate to the best of its 
ability in complying with our requests for information,\5\ we 
preliminarily determined an estimated weighted-average dumping margin 
based on adverse facts available for the PRC-wide entity, which 
includes the mandatory respondents.
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    \4\ The mandatory respondents are Allied Chemicals Inc. 
(``Allied Chemicals''), Xinji Jiuyuan Chemical Co. Ltd. (``Xinji 
Jiuyuan''), and Sichuan Golden-Elephant Sincerity Chemical Co., Ltd. 
(``Golden Elephant'').
    \5\ Specifically, the Department did not receive responses to 
its quantity and value questionnaire (``Q&V'') from 26 companies to 
which the Department confirmed receipt of the Q&V. See Memorandum to 
the File, ``Antidumping Duty Investigation of Melamine from the 
People's Republic of China: FedEx--UPS Delivery Confirmations,'' 
dated January 15, 2015.
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    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum hereby adopted by 
this notice.\6\ The list of topics discussed in the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum is provided as an appendix to this notice. The 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file 
electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (``ACCESS''). 
ACCESS is available to registered users at http://access.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 
at http://trade.gov/enforcement/ enforcement/. The signed Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \6\ See Memorandum to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, 
``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary Determination of the 
Antidumping Duty Investigation of Melamine from the People's 
Republic of China,'' dated concurrently with this notice 
(``Preliminary Decision Memorandum'').
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Combination Rates

    In the Initiation Notice, the Department stated that it would 
calculate combination rates for the respondents that are eligible for a 
separate rate in this investigation.\7\ Policy Bulletin 05.1 sets forth 
this practice.\8\ However, as described in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum, all parties subject to this investigation are preliminarily 
found to be part of the PRC-wide entity, to which we do not assign a 
separate combination rate.\9\
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    \7\ See Initiation Notice, 79 at 73042.
    \8\ See Enforcement and Compliance Policy Bulletin No. 05.1 
``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination Rates in 
Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy Countries,'' 
(April 5, 2005) (``Policy Bulletin 05.1''), available on the 
Department's Web site at http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
    \9\ Id.
    \10\ The PRC-wide entity includes Allied, Xinji Jiuyuan, Golden 
Elephant, and Zhongyuan Dahua Group Inc., which withdrew from the 
investigation prior to respondent selection. The PRC-wide entity 
also includes 26 exporters who received a Q&V questionnaire from the 
Department but did not respond to the questionnaire. Those companies 
are: Anhui Jinhe Industrial Co., Ltd., Anhui Sunson Chemical Group 
Co., Ltd., Chengdu Yulong Chemical Co., Ltd., Fujian Sangang 
(Group), Hebei Jinglong Fengli Chemical Co., Ltd., Hefei Tianfeng 
Import & Export Co Ltd. China, Henan Zhongyuan Dahua Group Co., 
Ltd., JianFeng Chemicals, Jiangsu Heyou Group Co., Ltd., Jiangsu 
Sanmu Group Corporation, Kaiwei Investment Group, M and A Chemicals, 
Corp China, Nanjing Deju Trading Co Ltd. China, Nantong Zixin 
Industrial Co., Ltd., OCI Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. China, Panjin 
Zhongrun Chemical Co., Ltd., Qingdao Shida Chemical Co., Ltd. China, 
Shandong Jinmei Mingshui Chemical Co., Ltd., Shandong Liaherd 
Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Shandong Sanhe Chemical Company Ltd., 
Shandong Xintai Liaherd Chemical Co., Ltd., Shandong Yixing Melamine 
Co., Ltd., Sichuan Chemical Works Group Ltd., Sinopec Jinling 
Petrochemical Co., Ltd., Well Hope Enterprises Limited, and Zhejiang 
Fuyang Yongxing Chemical Co., Ltd.
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Preliminary Determination

    The preliminary weighted-average antidumping duty margin percentage 
is as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
                        Exporter                          average margin
                                                             (percent)
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PRC-Wide Entity \10\....................................          363.31
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Normally, the Department discloses to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination 
within five days of the date of publication of the notice of 
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because the Department preliminarily 
applied AFA to the mandatory respondents in this investigation, in 
accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are no calculations to 
disclose. Accordingly, the calculations performed in connection with 
this preliminary determination are not proprietary in nature, and are 
described in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination. Interested parties may submit case briefs to the 
Department no later than 30 days after the date of publication of this 
preliminary determination.\11\ A table of contents, list of authorities 
used, and an executive summary of issues should accompany any briefs 
submitted to the Department.\12\
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    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i).
    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2).
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    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 Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
filed electronically in ACCESS. An electronically filed document must 
be received successfully in its entirety in ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. 
Eastern Standard Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of 
this notice.\13\ Hearing requests should contain the party's name, 
address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list 
of the issues you intend to present at the hearing. 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., 
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.
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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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 melamine from the PRC, as described in 
the ``Scope of the Investigation'' section, entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for

[[Page 34893]]

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 \14\ equal to the weighted-average amount by 
which normal value (NV) exceeds U.S. price, adjusted where appropriate 
for export subsidies and estimated domestic subsidy pass-through,\15\ 
as follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for any exporter/producer 
combinations listed in the table above will be the rate the Department 
determines in this preliminary determination; (2) for all combinations 
of PRC exporters/producers of merchandise under consideration that have 
not received their own separate rate 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.
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    \14\ 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).
    \15\ See sections 772(c)(1)(C) and 777A(f) of the Act, 
respectively. Unlike in administrative reviews, the Department 
calculates the adjustment for export subsidies in investigations not 
in the margin calculation program, but in the cash deposit 
instructions issued to CBP. See Notice of Final Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and Negative Determination of 
Critical Circumstances: Certain Lined Paper Products from India, 71 
FR 45012 (August 8, 2006), and accompanying Issues and Decision 
Memorandum at Comment 1.
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    Furthermore, consistent with our practice, where the product under 
investigation is also subject to a concurrent countervailing duty 
investigation, we instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the 
amount by which the NV exceeds the export price or constructed export 
price, less the amount of the countervailing duty determined to 
constitute an export subsidy. In this LTFV investigation, with regard 
to PRC-wide entity, export subsidies constitute 3.28 percent \16\ of 
the preliminarily calculated countervailing duty rate in the concurrent 
countervailing duty investigation, and, thus, we will offset the PRC-
wide rate of 363.31 percent by the countervailing duty rate 
attributable to export subsidies (i.e., 3.28 percent) to calculate the 
cash deposit rate for this LTFV investigation.\17\ We are not adjusting 
the PRC-wide rate for estimated domestic subsidy pass-through because 
we have no basis upon which to make such an adjustment.\18\
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    \16\ The following subsidy programs in the preliminary 
determination of the concurrent countervailing duty investigation 
are export subsidies: Preferential Export Financing from the Export-
Import Bank of Chines (1.06%), Reduced Fee Export Insurance (1.06%), 
Grants to Cover Legal Fees in Trade Remedy Cases (0.58%), and Cash 
Grants for Exports (0.58%). See Melamine From the People's Republic 
of China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, 
and Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination, 80 FR 21706 (April 20, 2015), and 
accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 12-13.
    \17\ The cash deposit rate reflecting the export subsidy offset 
will be in effect until the countervailing duty provisional measures 
expire (i.e. 120 days after the publication of the preliminary 
determination of the companion countervailing duty investigation).
    \18\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at the section, 
``Section 777A(f) of the Act.''
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International Trade Commission (``ITC'') Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we 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 
melamine, 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 and 19 CFR 351.205(b)(2).

    Dated: June 10, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
    1. Initiation
    2. Period of Investigation
    3. Postponement of Preliminary Determination
    4. Scope of the Investigation
    5. Scope Comments
    6. Selection of Respondents
III. Discussion of the Methodology
    1. Non-Market Economy Country
    2. Separate Rates and the PRC-wide Entity
    3. Application of Facts Available and Selection Based Upon 
Adverse Inferences for the PRC-Wide Entity
    4. Corroboration of AFA Rate
    5. Verification
    6. Section 777A(f) of the Act
IV. ITC Notification
V. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2015-14973 Filed 6-17-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P