[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 184 (Friday, September 21, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47879-47880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20605]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-072]


Sodium Gluconate, Gluconic Acid and Derivative Products From the 
People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters 
of sodium gluconate, gluconic acid and derivative products from the 
People's Republic of China (China).

DATES: Applicable September 21, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Galantucci or Jonathan Hill, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-2923 or (202) 482-
3518, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    This final determination is made in accordance with section 705 of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The petitioner in this 
investigation is PMP Fermentation Products, Inc. (the petitioner). The 
mandatory respondents in this investigation are Qingdao Dongxiao 
Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Qingdao Dongxiao), Shandong Fuyang Biotechnology 
Co. (Fuyang), Shandong Kaison Biochemical Co Ltd (Kaison), and 
Tongxiang Hongyu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Hongyu Chemical). Hongyu Chemical, 
Kaison, and Qingdao Dongxiao did not respond to any of our requests for 
information.
    We published our Preliminary Determination on May 23, 2018.\1\ On 
May 30, 2018, Fuyang, the sole respondent to provide a questionnaire 
response in this investigation, notified Commerce that it would no 
longer be participating in the proceeding.\2\ On June 21, 2018, the 
petitioner submitted a case brief.\3\ We received no comments from 
other interested parties.
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    \1\ See Sodium Gluconate, Gluconic Acid, and Derivative Products 
from the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment of Final 
Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 83 FR 23888 
(May 23, 2018) (Preliminary Determination) and accompanying 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
    \2\ See Letter from Fuyang, ``Countervailing Duty Investigation 
on Sodium Gluconate, Gluconic Acid, and Derivative Products from the 
People's Republic of China: Notice of Non-Participation in 
Investigation,'' dated May 30, 2018.
    \3\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Countervailing Duty 
Investigation of Sodium Gluconate, Gluconic Acid and Derivative 
Products from the People's Republic of China: Petitioner's Case 
Brief,'' dated June 21, 2018.
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    Additional background on this case, including a summary of events 
that occurred since Commerce published the Preliminary Determination, 
and a discussion of comments from the petitioner, are provided in the 
Issues and Decision Memorandum, which is hereby adopted by this 
notice.\4\ The Issues and 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 Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at http://enforcement.trade.gov. The signed and electronic versions of 
the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Affirmative Determination in the Countervailing Duty 
Investigation of Sodium Gluconate, Gluconic Acid and Derivative 
Products from the People's Republic of China,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decision 
Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are sodium gluconate, 
gluconic acid, and derivative products from China. We have made no 
changes to the scope of the investigation, as published in the 
Preliminary Determination.\5\ For a complete description of the scope 
of this investigation, see Appendix I to this notice.
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    \5\ See 83 FR at 23888 (noting that Commerce would consider 
scope comments from interested parties and implement any changes to 
the scope in the final countervailing duty determination).
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Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation is January 1, 2016, through December 
31, 2016.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case brief submitted by the petitioner are 
addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum accompanying this 
notice. A list of the issues addressed in the memorandum is attached to 
this notice at Appendix II.

Adverse Facts Available

    In this final determination, we continue to apply facts available 
with an adverse inference to Fuyang, Hongyu Chemical, Kaison, and 
Qingdao Dongxiao. For purposes of this final determination, we relied 
on facts available and, because the respondents did not respond, or did 
not act to the best of their ability in responding to, our requests for 
information, we drew adverse inferences in selecting from among the 
facts otherwise available, pursuant to sections 776(a)-(b) of the 
Act.\6\ A detailed discussion of our application of adverse facts 
available was provided in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
accompanying our Preliminary Determination, and additional discussion 
is contained in the Issues and Decision Memorandum accompanying this 
notice.
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    \6\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act. Section 782(i) of 
the Act requires Commerce to verify a respondent's data as part of 
an investigation. However, because we applied adverse facts 
available to each of the respondents in the Preliminary 
Determination, we did not conduct verification in this 
investigation.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    In our Preliminary Determination, we applied adverse facts 
available to calculate the subsidy rates for all mandatory respondents. 
We have made no changes to our analysis, or to the respondents' subsidy 
rates, for this final determination.

Final Determination

    With respect to the ``all-others'' rate, section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) 
of the Act provides that if the countervailing duty rates established 
for all exporters and producers individually investigated are 
determined entirely in accordance with section 776 of the Act, Commerce 
may use any reasonable method to establish an all-others rate for 
exporters and producers not individually investigated. In this case, 
the rates assigned to Fuyang, Hongyu Chemical, Kaison, and

[[Page 47880]]

Qingdao Dongxiao are based entirely on facts otherwise available, with 
adverse inferences, under section 776 of the Act. Because there is no 
other information on the record with which to determine an all-others 
rate, in accordance with section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act, we have 
established the all-others rate by applying the countervailable subsidy 
rates for mandatory respondents Fuyang, Hongyu Chemical, Kaison, and 
Qingdao Dongxiao. The final countervailable subsidy rates are 
summarized in the table below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                    Producer/exporter                        (percent)
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Qingdao Dongxiao Enterprise Co., Ltd....................          194.67
Shandong Fuyang Biotechnology Co........................          194.67
Shandong Kaison Biochemical Co Ltd......................          194.67
Tongxiang Hongyu Chemical Co., Ltd......................          194.67
All-Others..............................................          194.67
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Disclosure

    We described the subsidy rate calculations, which were based on 
adverse facts available, in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. As 
noted above, there are no changes to our calculations. Thus, no 
additional disclosure is necessary for this final determination.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    As a result of our Preliminary Determination and pursuant to 
section 703(d) of the Act, we instructed U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of any entries of merchandise 
under consideration from China that were entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after May 23, 2018, the date of the 
publication of the Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register. 
Additionally, at that time, we instructed CBP to collect cash deposits 
of estimated countervailing duties at the rates assigned in the 
Preliminary Determination. The suspension of liquidation and collection 
of cash deposits remains in effect until further notice.\7\
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    \7\ Provisional measures will expire on September 19, 2018, 
having been in effect for 120 days. Accordingly, we will direct CBP 
to discontinue suspension of liquidation of merchandise entered on 
or after September 20, 2018. If the ITC issues an affirmative final 
determination, we will direct CBP to resume suspension of 
liquidation effective on the date of publication of the ITC final 
determination in the Federal Register.
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    If the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issues a final 
affirmative injury determination, we will issue a countervailing duty 
order, will reinstate the suspension of liquidation under section 
706(a) of the Act, and will require a cash deposit of estimated 
countervailing duties for entries of subject merchandise in the amounts 
indicated above. If the ITC determines that material injury, or threat 
of material injury, does not exist, this proceeding will be terminated, 
and all estimated duties deposited as a result of the suspension of the 
suspension of liquidation will be refunded.

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 705(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our determination. In addition, we are making available to the 
ITC all non-privileged and non-proprietary information relating to this 
investigation. We will allow the ITC access to all privileged and 
business proprietary information in our files, provided the ITC 
confirms that it will not disclose such information, either publicly or 
under an administrative protective order (APO), without the written 
consent of the Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance.

Notification Regarding APOs

    This notice serves as a reminder to parties to an APO of their 
responsibility concerning the disposition of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely 
written notification of the return or destruction of APO materials or, 
alternatively, conversion to judicial protective order, is hereby 
requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and terms of an APO 
is a violation that is subject to sanction.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is published pursuant to section 705(d) and 
777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(c).

    Dated: September 17, 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 I

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of this investigation covers all grades of sodium 
gluconate, gluconic acid, liquid gluconate, and glucono delta 
lactone (GDL) (collectively, GNA products), regardless of physical 
form (including, but not limited to substrates; solutions; dry 
granular form or powders, regardless of particle size; or as a 
slurry). The scope also includes GNA products that have been blended 
or are in solution with other product(s) where the resulting mix 
contains 35 percent or more of sodium gluconate, gluconic acid, 
liquid gluconate, and/or GDL by dry weight.
    Sodium gluconate has a molecular formula of 
NaC6H11O7. Sodium gluconate has a 
Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) registry number of 527-07-1, and can 
also be called ``sodium salt of gluconic acid'' and/or sodium 2, 3, 
4, 5, 6 pentahydroxyhexanoate. Gluconic acid has a molecular formula 
of C6H12O7. Gluconic acid has a CAS 
registry number of 526-95-4, and can also be called 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
pentahydroxycaproic acid. Liquid gluconate is a blend consisting 
only of gluconic acid and sodium gluconate in an aqueous solution. 
Liquid gluconate has CAS registry numbers of 527-07-1, 526-95-4, and 
7732-18-5, and can also be called 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-pentahydroxycaproic 
acid-hexanoate. GDL has a molecular formula of 
C6H10O6. GDL has a CAS registry 
number of 90-80-2, and can also be called d-glucono-1,5-lactone.
    The merchandise covered by the scope of this investigation is 
currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States (HTSUS) under subheadings 2918.16.1000, 2918.16.5010, and 
2932.20.5020. Merchandise covered by the scope may also enter under 
HTSUS subheadings 2918.16.5050, 3824.99.2890, and 3824.99.9295. 
Although the HTSUS subheadings and CAS registry numbers are provided 
for convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the 
merchandise is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
V. Analysis of Comments
    Comment 1: Application of Total Adverse Facts Available to 
Hongyu Chemical, Kaison, and Qingdao Dongxiao
    Comment 2: Application of Total Adverse Facts Available to 
Fuyang
    Comment 3: Whether the Scope of the Investigation Should be 
Modified
VI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2018-20605 Filed 9-20-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P