[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 123 (Monday, June 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41519-41521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-15132]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-043]


Countervailing Duty Investigation of Stainless Steel Sheet and 
Strip From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of 
Critical Circumstances

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

SUMMARY: On February 12, 2016, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) received a countervailing

[[Page 41520]]

duty (CVD) petition concerning imports of stainless steel sheet and 
strip (stainless sheet and strip) from the People's Republic of China 
(PRC).\1\ On May 6, 2016, the Department received timely allegations 
that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of the 
merchandise under investigation.\2\ Based on information provided by 
Petitioners, data placed on the record of this investigation by the 
mandatory respondent, and data collected by the Department, the 
Department preliminarily determines that critical circumstances exist 
for imports of stainless sheet and strip from the PRC.
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    \1\ See Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip From the People's 
Republic of China--Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duties,'' February 12, 2016 (Petition). The 
petitioners for these investigations are AK Steel Corporation, 
Allegheny Ludlum, LLC d/b/a ATI Flat Rolled Products, North American 
Stainless, and Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC (collectively, 
Petitioners).
    \2\ See Letter from Petitioners, ``Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Investigations of Stainless Steel Sheet and 
Strip from the People's Republic of China--Petitioners Allegation of 
Critical Circumstances,'' May 6, 2016 (Critical Circumstances 
Allegation).

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DATES: Effective on June 27, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Halle, AD/CVD Operations, 
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0176.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Section 703(e)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), 
provides that the Department will preliminarily determine that critical 
circumstances exist in CVD investigations if there is a reasonable 
basis to believe or suspect: (A) That ``the alleged countervailable 
subsidy'' is inconsistent with the Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures (SCM) Agreement of the World Trade Organization, and (B) that 
there have been massive imports of the subject merchandise over a 
relatively short period. Section 19 CFR 351.206 provides that imports 
must increase by at least 15 percent during the ``relatively short 
period'' to be considered ``massive'' and defines a ``relatively short 
period'' as normally being the period beginning on the date the 
proceeding begins (i.e., the date the petition is filed) and ending at 
least three months later.\3\ The regulations also provide, however, 
that, if the Department finds that importers, or exporters or 
producers, had reason to believe, at some time prior to the beginning 
of the proceeding, that a proceeding was likely, the Department may 
consider a period of not less than three months from that earlier 
time.\4\
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    \3\ See 19 CFR 351.206(i).
    \4\ Id.
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    On March 25, 2016, the Department selected Ningbo Baoxin Stainless 
Steel Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Baoxin) and Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co. 
Ltd. (Taigang) as mandatory respondents.\5\ Since Ningbo Baoxin has not 
participated in this proceeding, we selected Daming International 
Import Export Co Ltd (Daming) as an additional mandatory respondent on 
May 5, 2016.\6\ Daming has not participated in this proceeding.
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    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Countervailing Duty Investigation of 
Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip from the People's Republic of China: 
Respondent Selection,'' March 25, 2016.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Countervailing Duty Investigation of 
Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip From the People's Republic of China: 
Second Analysis Regarding Respondent Selection,'' May 5, 2016.
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Alleged Countervailable Subsidies Are Inconsistent With the SCM 
Agreement

    To determine whether an alleged countervailable subsidy is 
inconsistent with the SCM Agreement, in accordance with section 
703(e)(1)(A) of the Act, the Department considered the evidence 
currently on the record of this investigation. Specifically, as 
determined in our initiation checklist, the following subsidy programs, 
alleged in the Petition and supported by information reasonably 
available to Petitioners, appear to be either export contingent or 
contingent upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods, which 
would render them inconsistent with the SCM Agreement: Preferential 
Lending to Stainless Sheet and Strip Producers and Exporters Classified 
As ``Honorable Enterprises,'' \7\ Export Loans,\8\ Export Credit 
Guarantees,\9\ Income Tax Credits for Domestically-Owned Companies 
Purchasing Domestically Produced Equipment,\10\ Subsidies for 
Development of Famous Brands and China World Top Brands,\11\ and Export 
Assistance Grants.\12\ Therefore, the Department preliminarily 
determines that there are alleged subsidies in this CVD investigation 
that are inconsistent with the SCM Agreement.
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    \7\ See PRC CVD Initiation Checklist, March 3, 2016, at 9.
    \8\ Id., at 10.
    \9\ Id., at 12.
    \10\ Id., at 21.
    \11\ Id., at 32.
    \12\ Id., at 36.
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Massive Imports

    In determining whether there are ``massive imports'' over a 
``relatively short period,'' pursuant to sections 703(e)(1)(B) and 
733(e)(1)(B) of the Act, the Department normally compares the import 
volumes of the subject merchandise for at least three months 
immediately preceding the filing of the petition (i.e., the ``base 
period'') to a comparable period of at least three months following the 
filing of the petition (i.e., the ``comparison period''). Imports 
normally will be considered massive when imports during the comparison 
period have increased by 15 percent or more compared to imports during 
the base period.
    Petitioners did not provide any argument or evidence pursuant to 
CFR 351.206(i), that importers, exporters or producers had a reason to 
believe, at some time prior to the filing of the petition, that a 
proceeding was likely. Thus, in order to determine whether there has 
been a massive surge in imports for the cooperating mandatory 
respondent, we have used a comparison period starting with the month 
the petition was filed in (i.e., February 2016), up to the most recent 
month we have shipping data for on the record (i.e., April 2016). We 
then selected a base period with the same number of months, starting in 
the month prior to the filing of the petition (i.e., November 2015 
through January 2016). Based on this analysis, we preliminarily 
determine that Taigang had massive imports.\13\
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    \13\ See Memorandum, ``Monthly Shipment Quantity and Value 
Analysis for Critical Circumstances Preliminary Determination,'' 
June 20, 2016.
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    For ``all other'' exporters or producers, the Department compared 
Global Trade Atlas (GTA) data for the period February through April 
(the last month for which GTA data is currently available) with the 
proceeding three-month period of November 2015 through January 
2016.\14\ We then

[[Page 41521]]

subtracted shipments reported by the cooperating mandatory respondent 
from the GTA data. Based on this analysis, we preliminarily determine 
that ``all other'' exporters or producers had massive imports.\15\
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    \14\ The Department gathered GTA data under the following 
harmonized tariff schedule numbers: 7219.13.0031, 7219.13.0051, 
7219.13.0071, 7219.13.0081, 7219.14.0030, 7219.14.0065, 
7219.14.0090, 7219.23.0030, 7219.23.0060, 7219.24.0030, 
7219.24.0060, 7219.32.0005, 7219.32.0020, 7219.32.0025, 
7219.32.0035, 7219.32.0036, 7219.32.0038, 7219.32.0042, 
7219.32.0044, 7219.32.0045, 7219.32.0060, 7219.33.0005, 
7219.33.0020, 7219.33.0025, 7219.33.0035, 7219.33.0036, 
7219.33.0038, 7219.33.0042, 7219.33.0044, 7219.33.0045, 
7219.33.0070, 7219.33.0080, 7219.34.0005, 7219.34.0020, 
7219.34.0025, 7219.34.0030, 7219.34.0035, 7219.34.0050, 
7219.35.0005, 7219.35.0015, 7219.35.0030, 7219.35.0035, 
7219.35.0050, 7219.90.0010, 7219.90.0020, 7219.90.0025, 
7219.90.0060, 7219.90.0080, 7220.12.1000, 7220.12.5000, 
7220.20.1010, 7220.20.1015, 7220.20.1060, 7220.20.1080, 
7220.20.6005, 7220.20.6010, 7220.20.6015, 7220.20.6060, 
7220.20.6080, 7220.20.7005, 7220.20.7010, 7220.20.7015, 
7220.20.7060, 7220.20.7080, 7220.90.0010, 7220.90.0015, 
7220.90.0060, and 7220.90.0080.
    \15\ Id.
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    Because we do not have verifiable shipment data from the non-
cooperating mandatory respondents (i.e., those mandatory respondents 
that did not respond to the initial questionnaire or who otherwise 
indicated their unwillingness to participate in the investigation), we 
determined, on the basis of adverse facts available,\16\ that there has 
been a massive surge in imports. Accordingly, we preliminarily 
determine that the following producers/exporters had massive surges in 
imports: Ningbo Baoxin, and Daming.\17\
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    \16\ See Section 776 of the Act.
    \17\ See Memorandum, ``Monthly Shipment Quantity and Value 
Analysis for Critical Circumstances Preliminary Determination,'' 
dated concurrently with this Federal Register notice.
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Conclusion

    Based on the criteria and findings discussed above, we 
preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist with respect 
to imports of stainless sheet and strip shipped by Taigang, Ningbo 
Baoxin, Daming, and ``all other'' exporters or producers.

Final Critical Circumstances Determination

    We will issue a final determination concerning critical 
circumstances when we issue our final subsidy determination. All 
interested parties will have the opportunity to address this 
determination in case briefs to be submitted after completion of the 
preliminary CVD determination.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with sections 703(f) and 733(f) of the Act, we will 
notify the ITC of our determination.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with sections 703(e)(2), because we have 
preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist with regard to 
imports exported by certain producers and exporters, if we make an 
affirmative preliminary determination that countervailable subsidies 
have been provided to these same producers/exporters at above de 
minimis rates,\18\ we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise from 
these producers/exporters that are entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date that is 90 days prior 
to the effective date of ``provisional measures'' (e.g., the date of 
publication in the Federal Register of the notice of an affirmative 
preliminary determination that countervailable subsidies have been 
provided at above de minimis rates). At such time, we will also 
instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated 
preliminary subsidy rates reflected in the preliminary determination 
published in the Federal Register. This suspension of liquidation will 
remain in effect until further notice.
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    \18\ The preliminary determinations concerning the provision of 
countervailable subsidies is currently scheduled for July 11, 2016.
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    This notice is issued and published pursuant to section 777(i) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2).

    Dated: June 20, 2016.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2016-15132 Filed 6-24-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P