[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 5 (Monday, January 8, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 784-787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-00132]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-549-833]


Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts From Thailand: Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary 
Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, in Part, and 
Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that citric acid and certain citrate salts (citric acid) from Thailand 
are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than 
fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2016, 
through March 31, 2017.

DATES: Applicable: January 8, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joy Zhang (COFCO), George McMahon 
(Niran), or Cindy Robinson (Sunshine), AD/CVD Operations, Office III, 
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-1168, (202) 482-1167, or (202) 482-3797, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce 
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on June 30, 
2017.\1\ On November 1, 2017, Commerce postponed the preliminary 
determination of this investigation and the revised deadline is now 
December 29, 2017.\2\ For a complete description of the events that 
followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.\3\ A list of topics

[[Page 785]]

included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix 
II 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 https://access.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central 
Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. 
In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The 
signed and electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
are identical in content.
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    \1\ See Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts from Belgium, 
Colombia, and Thailand: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigations, 82 FR 29828 (June 30, 2017) (Initiation Notice) and 
accompanying Initiation Checklist.
    \2\ See Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts from Belgium, 
Colombia, and Thailand: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations 
of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation, 82 FR 50622 (November 1, 
2017) (Preliminary Postponement Notice).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Affirmative Antidumping Duty Determination, Preliminary Affirmative 
Critical Circumstances Determination, in Part, and Postponement of 
Final Determination and Extension of Provisional Measures in the 
Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Citric Acid and Certain 
Citrate Salts from Thailand'' dated concurrently with, and hereby 
adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is citric acid from 
Thailand. For a complete discussion of the scope of this investigation, 
see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations,\4\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period for parties to raise issues 
regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\5\ Certain interested parties 
commented on the scope of this investigation as it appeared in the 
Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments and 
rebuttal responses submitted to the record for this preliminary 
determination, and accompanying discussion and analysis of all comments 
timely received, see the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\6\ 
Commerce is not preliminarily modifying the scope language as it 
appeared in the Initiation Notice.
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    \4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 62 FR 27296, 
27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \5\ See Initiation Notice, 82 FR at 29836.
    \6\ See Memorandum titled ``Scope Comments Decision Memorandum 
for the Preliminary Determinations,'' dated December 1, 2017 
(Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Commerce has also calculated export and 
constructed export prices in accordance with section 772 of the Act. 
Normal value (NV) is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the 
Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying the 
preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in 
Part

    In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, 
Commerce preliminarily finds that critical circumstances exist for one 
of the mandatory respondents, Niran, but do not exist for COFCO, 
Sunshine and all-other producers and/or exporters. For a full 
description of the methodology and results of Commerce's critical 
circumstances analysis, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

All-Others Rate

    Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) and 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that in 
the preliminary determination Commerce shall determine an estimated 
all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually 
examined. This rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of 
the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for 
exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero 
and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under 
section 776 of the Act.
    In this investigation, Commerce calculated the all-others rate 
based on a weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margins calculated for the three mandatory respondents: COFCO, Niran, 
and Sunshine, none of which are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on 
facts otherwise available. Commerce calculated the all-others' rate 
using a weighted-average of the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margins calculated for the examined respondents using each company's 
business proprietary data for the merchandise under consideration.\7\
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    \7\ For a complete analysis of the data, please see the All-
Others Rate Calculation Memorandum dated concurrently with this 
notice.
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Preliminary Determination

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Estimated
                                                               weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
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COFCO Biochemical (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (COFCO)..............       15.73
Niran (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Niran)..........................       12.95
Sunshine Biotech International Co., Ltd. (Sunshine).........        4.77
All-Others..................................................       10.55
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will 
direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation 
of entries of subject merchandise, as described in Appendix I, entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Further, pursuant 
to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), Commerce will 
instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-
average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows: 
(1) The cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be 
equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping 
margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the 
exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, 
then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer 
of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other 
producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin.
    Section 733(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative 
determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation 
shall apply to unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of (a) 
the date which is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of 
liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date on which notice of 
initiation of the investigation was published. Commerce preliminarily 
finds that critical circumstances exist for imports of subject 
merchandise produced or exported by Niran. In accordance with section 
733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the suspension of liquidation shall apply to 
unliquidated entries of shipments of subject merchandise from Niran 
that were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after the date which is 90 days before the publication of this notice.
    Commerce normally adjusts cash deposits for estimated antidumping 
duties by the amount of export subsidies countervailed in a companion 
countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding, when CVD provisional measures are 
in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce preliminarily made an 
affirmative determination for countervailable export subsidies, 
Commerce has offset the estimated weighted-average dumping margin by 
the appropriate CVD rate.

[[Page 786]]

However, in the companion CVD preliminary determination, Commerce has 
preliminarily determined that no countervailable subsidies are being 
provided to the production or exportation of subject merchandise and 
therefore, Commerce did not direct CBP to suspend liquidation of any 
such entries. Accordingly, we made no adjustment for the export subsidy 
offset to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin. These 
suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until 
further notice.

Disclosure

    Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis 
performed to interested parties in this preliminary determination 
within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public 
announcement, within five days of the date of publication of this 
notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
verify the information relied upon in making its final determination.

Public Comment

    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven 
days after the date on which the last verification report is issued in 
this investigation. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case 
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline 
date for case briefs.\8\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), 
parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this investigation 
are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the 
issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities.
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    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain 
the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of 
participants, whether any participant is a foreign national, and a list 
of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, 
Commerce intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, at a time 
and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the 
date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled 
date.

Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination 
may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the 
publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an 
affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement 
is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of 
exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative 
preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by 
the petitioner. Section 351.210(e)(2) of Commerce's regulations 
requires that a request by exporters for postponement of the final 
determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional 
measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months 
in duration.
    On November 29, 2017, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act and 
19 CFR 351.210(e)(1), the petitioners requested that, if the 
preliminary determination in the above-referenced investigation is 
negative, Commerce postpone the final determination in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(i).\9\ On December 1, 2017, COFCO and Niran, and 
on December 4, 2017, Sunshine requested that, in the event of an 
affirmative preliminary determination, Commerce postpone the final 
determination, and that provisional measures be extended by the 
corresponding period of extension (e.g., by an additional 60 days), 
which represents a period not to exceed six months.\10\
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    \9\ See Letter from the petitioners titled, ``Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts from 
Thailand: Petitioners' Request for Postponement of Final 
Determination,'' dated November 29, 2017.
    \10\ See Letter from COFCO and Niran titled, ``Conditional 
Request for Extension of Final Determination,'' dated December 1, 
2017; see also Letter from Sunshine titled, ``Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts from 
Thailand: Request for Postponement of Final Determination and 
Provisional Measures Period,'' dated December 4, 2017.
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    In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(b)(2)(ii) and (e)(2), because (1) our preliminary determination 
is affirmative, (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant 
proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, and (3) no compelling 
reasons for denial exist, we are granting the respondents' request and 
are postponing the final determination until no later than 135 days 
after the publication of the preliminary determination notice in the 
Federal Register, and we are extending provisional measures from four 
months to a period not to exceed six months. Accordingly, Commerce will 
make its final determination no later than 135 days after the date of 
publication of this preliminary determination.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of its affirmative preliminary 
determination. If the final determination is affirmative, the ITC will 
determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this 
preliminary determination or 45 days after Commerce's final 
determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or 
threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.\11\
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    \11\ See section 735(b)(2) of the Act.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: December 29, 2017.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation includes all 
grades and granulation sizes of citric acid, sodium citrate, and 
potassium citrate in their unblended forms, whether dry or in 
solution, and regardless of packaging type. The scope also includes 
blends of citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium citrate; as 
well as blends with other ingredients, such as sugar, where the 
unblended form(s) of citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium 
citrate constitute 40 percent or more, by weight, of the blend.
    The scope also includes all forms of crude calcium citrate, 
including dicalcium citrate monohydrate, and tricalcium citrate 
tetrahydrate, which are intermediate products in the production of 
citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium citrate.
    The scope includes the hydrous and anhydrous forms of citric 
acid, the dihydrate and anhydrous forms of sodium citrate, otherwise 
known as citric acid sodium salt, and the monohydrate and 
monopotassium forms of potassium citrate. Sodium citrate also 
includes both trisodium citrate and monosodium citrate which are 
also known as citric acid trisodium salt and citric acid monosodium 
salt, respectively.

[[Page 787]]

    The scope does not include calcium citrate that satisfies the 
standards set forth in the United States Pharmacopeia and has been 
mixed with a functional excipient, such as dextrose or starch, where 
the excipient constitutes at least 2 percent, by weight, of the 
product.
    Citric acid and sodium citrate are classifiable under 
2918.14.0000 and 2918.15.1000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (HTSUS), respectively. Potassium citrate and crude 
calcium citrate are classifiable under 2918.15.5000 and, if included 
in a mixture or blend, 3824.99.9295 of the HTSUS. Blends that 
include citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium citrate are 
classifiable under 3824.99.9295 of the HTSUS. Although the HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the 
written description of the merchandise is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures
V. Scope Comments
VI. Scope of the Investigation
VII. Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances
VIII. Discussion of the Methodology
    A. Determination of the Comparison Method
    B. Results of the Differential Pricing Analysis
IX. Date of Sale
X. Product Comparisons
XI. Export Price and Constructed Export Price
XII. Normal Value
    A. Comparison Market Viability
    B. Level of Trade
    C. Cost of Production (COP) Analysis
    1. Calculation of COP
    2. Test of Comparison Market Sales Prices
    3. Results of the COP Test
    D. Calculation of NV Based on Comparison Market Prices
    E. Calculation of NV Based on Constructed Value
XIII. Currency Conversion
XIV. Verification
XV. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2018-00132 Filed 1-5-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P