[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 135 (Monday, July 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32683-32684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14956]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Adminstration

[A-570-051]


Certain Hardwood Plywood Products From the People's Republic of 
China: Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value

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

SUMMARY: On June 23, 2017 the Department of Commerce (Department) 
published the Preliminary Determination of sales at less than fair 
value (LTFV) in the antidumping duty investigation of certain hardwood 
plywood products (hardwood plywood) from the People's Republic of China 
(PRC). We are amending our Preliminary Determination to correct 
ministerial errors with respect to the identification of companies 
receiving a separate rate.

DATES: Applicable June 23, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Brings or Ryan Mullen, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3927 or (202) 482-5260, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As noted above, on June 23, 2017, the 
Department published in the Federal Register the Preliminary 
Determination \1\ that hardwood plywood from the PRC is being, or is 
likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, as provided in section 
733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (Act).\2\ On June 20, 2017, 
Suqian Yaorun Trade Co., Ltd. (Suqian Yaorun), Shandong Anxin Timber 
Co., Ltd. (Shandong Anxin), Pizhou Jin Sheng Yuan International Trade 
Co., Ltd. (Pizhou Jin Sheng), Xuzhou Shuiwangxing Trading Co. 
(Shuiwangxing), and Cosco Star International Co., Ltd. (Cosco) 
(collectively, certain separate rate respondents) timely filed 
ministerial error allegations.\3\
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    \1\ See Certain Hardwood Plywood Products from the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of 
Critical Circumstances, in Part, 82 FR 28629 (June 23, 2017) 
(Preliminary Determination).
    \2\ See Preliminary Determination.
    \3\ See Letter to the Department re: Hardwood Plywood Products 
from the People's Republic of China: Ministerial-Error Comments on 
Separate Rate Applications, dated June 20, 2017 (Ministerial Error 
Comments).
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Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2016, through 
September 30, 2016.

Scope of Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is hardwood plywood from 
the PRC. A complete description of the scope of this investigation in 
included in the Preliminary Determination.\4\
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    \4\ See Preliminary Determination at Appendix I.
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Significant Ministerial Error

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e) and (g)(1), the Department is 
amending the Preliminary Determination to reflect the correction of 
significant ministerial errors it made in the margin assigned to 
certain separate rate respondents. A ministerial error is defined as 
errors in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function, clerical 
error resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the like, and 
any other similar type of unintentional error which the Secretary 
considers ministerial.\5\ A significant ministerial error is defined as 
a ministerial error, the correction of which, singly or in combination 
with other errors, would result in: (1) A change of at least five 
absolute percentage points in, but not less than 25 percent of, the 
weighted-average dumping margin calculated in the original (erroneous) 
preliminary determination; or (2) a difference between a weighted-
average dumping margin of zero or de minimis and a weighted-average 
dumping margin of greater than de minimis or vice versa.\6\ As a result 
of this amended preliminary determination, we have added certain 
separate rate respondents to the list of exporters that received a 
separate rate or corrected typographical errors, as appropriate.\7\
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    \5\ See section 735(e) of the Act.
    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.224(g).
    \7\ See the ``Amended Preliminary Determination'' section below.
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Ministerial Error Allegations

    On June 20, 2017, certain separate rate respondents submitted 
ministerial error allegations claiming that the Department should have 
included exporters Suqian Yaorun and Shandong Anxin as separate rate 
recipients and that typographical errors were made to the spelling of 
the names of exporters Pizhou Jin Sheng and Shuiwangxing, and to the 
spelling of the name of one of exporter Cosco's producers, Pingyi 
Jinniu Wood Co., Ltd.\8\ The Department reviewed the record and agrees 
that we made certain typographical errors and omissions on the 
producer/exporter list for separate rate recipients constituting 
significant ministerial errors pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e) and (f). 
In their SRA, certain separate rate respondents submitted information 
supporting a preliminary finding of an absence of de jure and de facto 
government control.\9\ Accordingly, we preliminarily determine that 
certain separate rate respondents are eligible for a separate rate. 
Further, these errors are significant because the rate applicable to 
the certain separate rate respondents is improperly at the PRC-Wide 
rate of 114.72 percent, rather than at the correct separate rate of 
57.36 percent, thus exceeding the significant error threshold because 
correction of these errors results in a change of at least five 
absolute percentage points.
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    \8\ See Ministerial Comments.
    \9\
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    The collection of cash deposits and suspension of liquidation will 
be revised accordingly in accordance with section 733(d) and (f) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.224. Because the amended rates for certain separate 
rate respondents results in reduced cash deposit rates, the corrected 
rates for certain separate rate respondents will be effective 
retroactively to June 23, 2017, the date of publication of the 
Preliminary Determination.

Amended Preliminary Determination

    As a result of this amended preliminary determination, we have 
revised the preliminary estimated weighted-average dumping margins as 
follows:

[[Page 32684]]



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                                                                                     Estimated
                                                                                     weighted-
                                                                                      average      Cash deposit
                   Exporter                                 Producer                  dumping          rate
                                                                                      margins        (percent)
                                                                                     (percent)
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Suqian Yaorun Trade Co., Ltd..................  Pizhou Jiangshan Wood Co., Ltd..           57.36           57.07
Suqian Yaorun Trade Co., Ltd..................  Suqian Bairun Wood Co., Ltd.....           57.36           57.07
Shandong Anxin Timber Co., Ltd................  Shandong Anxin Timber Co., Ltd..           57.36           57.07
Pizhou Jin Sheng Yuan International Trade Co.,  Xuzhou Chengxin Wood Co., Ltd...           57.36           57.07
 Ltd.
Pizhou Jin Sheng Yuan International Trade Co.,  Xuzhou Golden River Wood Co.,              57.36           57.07
 Ltd.                                            Ltd.
Xuzhou Shuiwangxing Trading Co., Ltd..........  Fengxian Jihe Wood Industry Co.            57.36           57.07
                                                 Ltd.
Cosco Star International Co., Ltd.............  Pingyi Jinniu Wood Co., Ltd.....           57.36           57.07
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we notified the 
International Trade Commission of our amended preliminary 
determination.
    This amended preliminary determination is issued and published in 
accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.224(e).

    Dated: July 11, 2017.
Gary Taverman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2017-14956 Filed 7-14-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P