[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 1, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37465-37466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16450]



[[Page 37465]]

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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-469-817]


Ripe Olives From Spain: Antidumping Duty Order

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

SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of 
Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), 
Commerce is issuing an antidumping duty order on ripe olives from 
Spain.

DATES: Applicable August 1, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryan Hansen or Peter Zukowski, AD/CVD 
Operations Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3683 or (202) 482-0189, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    In accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act 
of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.210(c), on June 18, 2018, 
Commerce published its affirmative final determination in the less-
than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation of ripe olives from Spain.\1\ On 
July 25, 2018, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determination 
pursuant to section 735(b)(1)(A) of the Act that an industry in the 
United States is materially injured by reason of the LTFV imports of 
ripe olives from Spain.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See Ripe Olives from Spain: Final Affirmative Determination 
of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 83 FR 28193 (June 18, 2018) (Final 
Determination).
    \2\ See Notification Letter from the ITC dated July 25, 2018 
(ITC Letter).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by this order is ripe olives. For a 
complete description of the scope of the order, see the Appendix to 
this notice.

Antidumping Duty Order

    On July 25, 2018, in accordance with sections 735(b)(1)(A) and 
735(d) of the Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determination 
in this investigation, in which it found that an industry in the United 
States is materially injured by reason of imports of ripe olives from 
Spain that are sold in the United States at LTFV.\3\ Therefore, in 
accordance with section 735(c)(2) of the Act, we are issuing this 
antidumping duty order. Because the ITC determined that imports of ripe 
olives from Spain are materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated 
entries of such merchandise from Spain, entered or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption, are subject to the assessment of antidumping 
duties.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ See ITC Letter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Therefore, in accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act, 
Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to 
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, antidumping duties equal 
to the amount by which the normal value of the merchandise exceeds the 
export price (or constructed export price) of the merchandise, for all 
relevant entries of ripe olives from Spain. Antidumping duties will be 
assessed on unliquidated entries of ripe olives from Spain entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after January 26, 2018, 
the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination,\4\ but will 
not be assessed on entries occurring after the expiration of the 
provisional measures period and before publication of the ITC's final 
injury determination as further described below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ See Ripe Olives from Spain: Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of 
Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 83 FR 
3677 (January 26, 2018) (Preliminary Determination).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, Commerce will 
instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation of all appropriate 
entries of ripe olives from Spain as described in the Appendix to this 
notice, which were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after January 26, 2018, the date of publication of 
the preliminary determination of this investigation in the Federal 
Register. These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in 
effect until further notice.
    Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(d), 
Commerce will instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the 
amounts indicated below. Accordingly, effective on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination, CBP 
will require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit 
estimated antidumping duties on this subject merchandise, a cash 
deposit equal to the cash deposit rates listed below.\5\ The all-others 
rate applies to producers or exporters not specifically listed, as 
appropriate. For the purpose of determining cash deposit rates, the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margins for imports of subject 
merchandise have been adjusted, as appropriate, for estimated domestic 
subsidy pass-through rates calculated based on the final determination 
of the companion countervailing duty investigation of ripe olives from 
Spain.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ See sections 736(a)(3) of the Act.
    \6\ See Final Determination, 83 FR at 28194.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Provisional Measures

    Section 733(d) of the Act states that suspension of liquidation 
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in 
effect for more than four months, except where exporters representing a 
significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise request 
Commerce to extend that four-month period to no more than six months. 
At the request of exporters that account for a significant proportion 
of ripe olives from Spain, Commerce extended the four-month period to 
six months.\7\ In the underlying investigation, Commerce published the 
preliminary determination on January 26, 2018. Therefore, the extended 
period, beginning on the date of publication of the Preliminary 
Determination, ended on July 24, 2018. Furthermore, section 737(b) of 
the Act states that definitive duties are to begin on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final injury determination.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ See Preliminary Determination, 83 FR at 3679.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Therefore, in accordance with section 733(d) of the Act and our 
practice,\8\ we will instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of 
liquidation and to liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties, 
unliquidated entries of ripe olives from Spain entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption after July 24, 2018, the date the 
provisional measures expired, through the day preceding the date of 
publication of the ITC's final injury determination in the Federal 
Register. Suspension of liquidation will resume on the date of 
publication of the ITC's final determination in the Federal Register.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ See, e.g., Certain Corrosion-Resistant Steel Products from 
India, Italy, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea 
and Taiwan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Determination for 
India and Taiwan, and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 48390 (July 25, 
2016).

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

[[Page 37466]]

Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins

    The weighted-average antidumping duty margin percentages and cash 
deposit rates are as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \9\ The cash deposit rate is equal to the calculated estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin adjusted for the appropriate subsidy 
offset(s).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             Estimated
                                             weighted-     Cash deposit
            Exporter producer                 average     rate (percent)
                                          dumping margin        \9\
                                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aceitunas Guadalquivir S.L..............           17.45           17.46
Agro Sevilla Aceitunas S.COOP Andalusia.           25.50           25.39
Angel Camacho Alimentacion S.L..........           16.88           16.83
All-Others..............................           20.04           19.98
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice constitutes the antidumping duty order with respect to 
ripe olives from Spain pursuant to section 736(a) of the Act. 
Interested parties can find a list of antidumping duty orders currently 
in effect at http://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
    This order is issued and published in accordance with section 
736(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).

    Dated: July 25, 2018.
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.

Appendix

Scope of the Order

    The products covered by this order are certain processed olives, 
usually referred to as ``ripe olives.'' The subject merchandise 
includes all colors of olives; all shapes and sizes of olives, 
whether pitted or not pitted, and whether whole, sliced, chopped, 
minced, wedged, broken, or otherwise reduced in size; all types of 
packaging, whether for consumer (retail) or institutional (food 
service) sale, and whether canned or packaged in glass, metal, 
plastic, multilayered airtight containers (including pouches), or 
otherwise; and all manners of preparation and preservation, whether 
low acid or acidified, stuffed or not stuffed, with or without 
flavoring and/or saline solution, and including in ambient, 
refrigerated, or frozen conditions.
    Included are all ripe olives grown, processed in whole or in 
part, or packaged in Spain. Subject merchandise includes ripe olives 
that have been further processed in Spain or a third country, 
including but not limited to curing, fermenting, rinsing, oxidizing, 
pitting, slicing, chopping, segmenting, wedging, stuffing, 
packaging, or heat treating, or any other processing that would not 
otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the order if 
performed in Spain.
    Subject merchandise includes ripe olives that otherwise meet the 
definition above that are packaged together with non-subject 
products, where the smallest individual packaging unit (e.g., can, 
pouch, jar, etc.) of any such product--regardless of whether the 
smallest unit of packaging is included in a larger packaging unit 
(e.g., display case, etc.)--contains a majority (i.e., more than 50 
percent) of ripe olives by net drained weight. The scope does not 
include the non-subject components of such product.
    Excluded from the scope are: (1) Specialty olives \10\ 
(including ``Spanish-style,'' ``Sicilian-style,'' and other similar 
olives) that have been processed by fermentation only, or by being 
cured in an alkaline solution for not longer than 12 hours and 
subsequently fermented; and (2) provisionally prepared olives 
unsuitable for immediate consumption (currently classifiable in 
subheading 0711.20 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States (HTSUS)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ Some of the major types of specialty olives and their 
curing methods are:
     ``Spanish-style'' green olives: Spanish-style green 
olives have a mildly salty, slightly bitter taste, and are usually 
pitted and stuffed. This style of olive is primarily produced in 
Spain and can be made from various olive varieties. Most are stuffed 
with pimento; other popular stuffings are jalapeno, garlic, and 
cheese. The raw olives that are used to produce Spanish-style green 
olives are picked while they are unripe, after which they are 
submerged in an alkaline solution for typically less than a day to 
partially remove their bitterness, rinsed, and fermented in a strong 
salt brine, giving them their characteristic flavor.
     ``Sicilian-style'' green olives: Sicilian-style olives 
are large, firm green olives with a natural bitter and savory 
flavor. This style of olive is produced in small quantities in the 
United States using a Sevillano variety of olive and harvested green 
with a firm texture. Sicilian-style olives are processed using a 
brine-cured method, and undergo a full fermentation in a salt and 
lactic acid brine for 4 to 9 months. These olives may be sold whole 
unpitted, pitted, or stuffed.
     ``Kalamata'' olives: Kalamata olives are slightly 
curved in shape, tender in texture, and purple in color, and have a 
rich natural tangy and savory flavor. This style of olive is 
produced in Greece using a Kalamata variety olive. The olives are 
harvested after they are fully ripened on the tree, and typically 
use a brine-cured fermentation method over 4 to 9 months in a salt 
brine.
     Other specialty olives in a full range of colors, 
sizes, and origins, typically fermented in a salt brine for 3 months 
or more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The merchandise subject to this order is currently classifiable 
under subheadings 2005.70.0230, 2005.70.0260, 2005.70.0430, 
2005.70.0460, 2005.70.5030, 2005.70.5060, 2005.70.6020, 
2005.70.6030, 2005.70.6050, 2005.70.6060, 2005.70.6070, 
2005.70.7000, 2005.70.7510, 2005.70.7515, 2005.70.7520, and 
2005.70.7525 HTSUS. Subject merchandise may also be imported under 
subheadings 2005.70.0600, 2005.70.0800, 2005.70.1200, 2005.70.1600, 
2005.70.1800, 2005.70.2300, 2005.70.2510, 2005.70.2520, 
2005.70.2530, 2005.70.2540, 2005.70.2550, 2005.70.2560, 
2005.70.9100, 2005.70.9300, and 2005.70.9700. Although HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and U.S. Customs purposes, 
they do not define the scope of the order; rather, the written 
description of the subject merchandise is dispositive.

[FR Doc. 2018-16450 Filed 7-31-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P