[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53604-53606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23222]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-557-809]


Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From Malaysia: 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and 
Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2017-2018

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that Superinox made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal 
value during the period of review (POR) February 1, 2017, through 
January 31, 2018. Additionally, we are rescinding the review with 
respect to Pantech Stainless & Alloy Industries Sdn. Bhd. (Pantech). 
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable October 24, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madeline R. Heeren or Tyler Weinhold, 
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) 482-9179 or (202) 
482-1121, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On February 23, 2001, Commerce published in the Federal Register an 
antidumping (AD) order on pipe fittings from Malaysia.\1\ On February 
1, 2018, Commerce notified interested parties of the opportunity to 
request an administrative review of orders, findings, or suspended 
investigations with anniversaries in February,

[[Page 53605]]

including the AD Order on pipe fittings from Malaysia.\2\ Commerce 
received timely requests from Core Pipe Products, Inc., Shaw Alloy 
Piping Products, LLC, and Taylor Forge Stainless Inc. (the petitioners) 
to conduct an administrative review of certain exporters covering the 
POR. On April 16, 2018, Commerce published in the Federal Register a 
notice initiating an administrative review of the Order covering 
Pantech and Superinox for the POR.\3\
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    \1\ See Antidumping Duty Orders: Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe 
Fittings from Italy, Malaysia, and the Philippines, 66 FR 11257 
(February 23, 2001) (Order).
    \2\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative 
Review, 83 FR 22 (February 1, 2018).
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 83 FR 16298 (April 16, 2018) (Initiation 
Notice).
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    Subsequently, we issued the AD questionnaire to Pantech and 
Superinox, the two mandatory respondents.\4\ On May 29, 2018, the 
petitioners timely withdrew their request for administrative review of 
Pantech, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1).\5\ Superinox did not respond 
to the questionnaire and has filed no submissions on the record for 
this administrative review. For a complete description of the events 
that followed the initiation of this administrative review, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\ A list of topics included in the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included in the Appendix to this 
notice.
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    \4\ See Commerce's Letters to Pantech and Superinox dated May 8, 
2018; see also, Memorandum, ``Delivery of Antidumping Duty 
Questionnaire to Superinox Max Fittings Industry Sdn. Bhd.,'' dated 
August 16, 2018.
    \5\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Stainless Steel Butt-Weld 
Pipe Fittings form Malaysia--Petitioners' Withdrawal of Review 
Request of Pantech,'' dated May 29, 2018. The three companies that 
the petitioner did not include in its withdrawal were Overseas 
International Steel Industry LLC, Overseas Distribution Services 
Inc., and Oman Fasteners.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary 
Results of the 2017-2018 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of 
Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Malaysia,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by this notice (Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum).
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    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 
to all parties in the Central Records Unit, located in Room B8094 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 the electronic 
versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in 
content.

Partial Rescission of Administrative Review

    The petitioners timely withdrew their request for review of one 
company listed in the Initiation Notice, and because the petitioners 
were the only party to request a review of that company, we are 
rescinding the administrative review with respect to Pantech, pursuant 
to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1). Accordingly, the remaining company subject to 
the instant review is Superinox.

Scope of the Order

    For purposes of the Order, the product covered is butt-weld 
fittings. Butt-weld fittings are under 14 inches in outside diameter 
(based on nominal pipe size), whether finished or unfinished. The 
product encompasses all grades of stainless steel and ``commodity'' and 
``specialty'' fittings. Specifically excluded from the definition are 
threaded, grooved, and bolted fittings, and fittings made from any 
material other than stainless steel. For a complete description of the 
scope of the Order, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Facts Available

    Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce is preliminarily 
relying upon facts otherwise available to assign an estimated weighted-
average dumping margin to Superinox in this review because Superinox 
withheld necessary information that was requested by Commerce, thereby 
significantly impeding the conduct of the review. Further, Commerce 
preliminarily determines that Superinox failed to cooperate by not 
acting to the best of its ability to comply with requests for 
information and, thus, Commerce is applying adverse facts available 
(AFA) to Superinox, in accordance with section 776(b) of the Act. For a 
full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions 
regarding the application of AFA, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.

Preliminary Results of Review

    As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine the 
following weighted-average dumping margin for the period February 1, 
2017, through January 31, 2018:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margins
                                                               (percent)
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Superinox Max Fittings Industries Sdn. Bhd..................      60.10
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations 
performed in connection with a 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 the notice of 
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA 
to the only individually examined company in this administrative 
review--Superinox--in accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are 
no calculations to disclose.
    Interested parties are invited to comment on the preliminary 
results of this review. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii), 
interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 30 days after 
the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to 
issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed no later than five days 
after the time limit for filing case briefs.\7\ Parties who submit case 
briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are requested to submit 
with each brief: (1) A statement of the issue, (2) a brief summary of 
the argument, and (3) a table of authorities.\8\ Executive summaries 
should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes.\9\ Case and 
rebuttal briefs should be filed using ACCESS.\10\
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    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1).
    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \9\ Id.
    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.303.
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), any interested party may request a 
hearing within 30 days of the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register. If a hearing is requested, Commerce will notify interested 
parties of the hearing schedule. Interested parties who wish to request 
a hearing, or to participate if one is requested, must submit a written 
request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
filed electronically via ACCESS within 30 days after the date of 
publication of this notice. Requests should contain: (1) The party's 
name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants; 
and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the 
hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case and 
rebuttal briefs. We

[[Page 53606]]

intend to issue the final results of this administrative review, 
including the results of our analysis of issues raised by the parties 
in the written comments, within 120 days of publication of these 
preliminary results in the Federal Register, unless otherwise 
extended.\11\
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    \11\ See section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.
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Assessment Rates

    Upon completion of the administrative review, Commerce shall 
determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate 
entries. Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP 15 
days after the date of publication of the final results of this review.
    For entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by each 
respondent for which it did not know its merchandise was destined for 
the United States, we will instruct CBP to liquidate such entries at 
the all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate 
company(ies) involved in the transaction.\12\ Where either the 
respondent's weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de minimis, or 
an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de minimis, we will 
instruct CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to 
antidumping duties.
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    \12\ See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: 
Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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    For the company for which this review is rescinded, antidumping 
duties will be assessed at rates equal to the cash deposit of estimated 
antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(c)(1)(i). 
Commerce intends to issue appropriate assessment instructions directly 
to CBP 15 days after publication of this notice. The final results of 
this review shall be the basis for the assessment of antidumping duties 
on entries of merchandise covered by the final results of this review 
and for future deposits of estimated duties, where applicable.

Cash Deposit Requirement

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the notice of the final results of administrative review 
for all shipments of pipe fittings from Malaysia entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of 
the final results of this administrative review, as provided by section 
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for the companies 
under review will be the rate established in the final results of this 
review (except, if the rate is zero or de minimis, no cash deposit will 
be required); (2) for merchandise exported by manufacturers or 
exporters not covered in this review but covered in a prior segment of 
the proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-
specific rate published for the most recently completed segment of this 
proceeding in which the manufacturer or exporter participated; (3) if 
the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or 
the less-than-fair-value investigation, but the manufacturer is, the 
cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recently 
completed segment of the proceeding for the manufacturer of the 
merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other manufacturers 
or exporters will continue to be 7.51 percent ad valorem, the all-
others rate established in the less-than-fair value investigation.

Notification to Importers

    This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of 
their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate 
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation 
of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply 
with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

    These preliminary results and partial rescission of administrative 
review are issued and published in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) 
and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

    Dated: October 18, 2018.
James Maeder,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Operations, performing the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary 
for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Partial Rescission of Administrative Review
V. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Interferences
VI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2018-23222 Filed 10-23-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P