[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 86 (Friday, May 3, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19040-19043]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09065]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-098]


Polyester Textured Yarn From the People's Republic of China: 
Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, and 
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and 
exporters of polyester textured yarn (yarn) from the People's Republic 
of China (China) for the period of investigation (POI) January 1, 2017 
through December 31, 2017. Interested parties are invited to comment on 
this preliminary determination.

DATES: Effective May 3, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Palmer or Joseph Dowling, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VIII, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-9068 or (202) 
482-1646, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 
703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce 
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on November 
19, 2018.\1\
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    \1\ See Polyester Textured Yarn from India and the People's 
Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigations, 
83 FR 58232 (November 19, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
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    On February 1, 2019, pursuant to a request from the Unifi 
Manufacturing, Inc. and Nan Ya Plastics Corporation (the 
petitioners),\2\ Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of 
this
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    \2\ See Letter, ``Countervailing Duty Investigation of Polyester 
Textured Yarn from China: Petitioners' Request to Postpone 
Preliminary Determination,'' dated December 10, 2018.

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[[Page 19041]]

investigation to March 18, 2019.\3\ On April 18, 2019, Commerce issued 
its preliminary critical circumstances determination determining that 
critical circumstances exist for imports from all producers and 
exporters of the subject merchandise from China.\4\ Commerce exercised 
its discretion to toll all deadlines affected by the partial federal 
government closure from December 22, 2018, through the resumption of 
operations on January 29, 2019.\5\ If the new deadline falls on a non-
business day, in accordance with Commerce's practice, the deadline will 
become the next business day. The revised deadline for the preliminary 
determination is now April 26, 2019.
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    \3\ See Polyester Textured Yarn from India and the People's 
Republic of China: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the 
Countervailing Duty Investigations, 84 FR 1062 (February 1, 2019).
    \4\ See Polyester Textured Yarn from the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical 
Circumstances in the Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Investigations, 84 FR 16840 (April 23, 2019) (Preliminary 
Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination).
    \5\ See Memorandum to the Record from 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, ``Deadlines 
Affected by the Partial Shutdown of the Federal Government,'' dated 
January 28, 2019. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding 
have been extended by 40 days.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\6\ A list of topics discussed 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 http://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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    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Polyester 
Textured Yarn from the People's Republic of China,'' 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 polyester textured 
yarn from China. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see Appendix I and ``Scope Comments'' section below.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations,\7\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\8\ Certain interested 
parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in 
the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments 
and 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.\9\ 
Commerce is preliminarily modifying the scope language as it appeared 
in the Initiation Notice to exclude bulk continuous filament yarn. See 
revised scope in Appendix I.
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    \7\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
    \8\ See Initiation Notice, 83 FR at 58233.
    \9\ See Memorandum, ``Polyester Textured Yarn from India and the 
People's Republic of China: Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for 
the Preliminary Determinations,'' dated concurrently with this 
notice (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found 
countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a 
subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that 
confers a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is 
specific.\10\ In making these findings, Commerce relied, in part, on 
facts available and, because it finds that certain respondents did not 
act to the best of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for 
information, it drew an adverse inference where appropriate in 
selecting from among the facts otherwise available.\11\ For further 
information, see ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse 
Inferences'' in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. For a full 
description of the methodology underlying our preliminary conclusions, 
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \10\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding 
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding 
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
    \11\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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Alignment

    In accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(b)(4), Commerce is aligning the final countervailing duty 
determination in this investigation with the final determination in the 
companion antidumping duty investigation of yarn from China, based on a 
request made by the petitioners.\12\ Consequently, the final 
countervailing duty determination will be issued on the same date as 
the final antidumping determination, which is currently scheduled to be 
issued no later than September 9, 2019, unless postponed.
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    \12\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Polyester Textured Yarn from 
China and India--Petitioners' Request to Align the Department's 
Final Determinations,'' dated March 29, 2019.
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All-Others Rate

    Sections 703(d)(1)(A)(i) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that 
in the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated 
all-others rate for companies not individually examined. This rate 
shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated 
subsidy rates established for those companies individually examined, 
excluding any zero and de minimis rates and any rates based entirely on 
facts otherwise available, as outlined under section 776 of the Act.
    In this investigation, Commerce preliminarily assigned rates based 
entirely on facts available for Suzhou Shenghong Fiber Co., Ltd. and 
its cross-owned affiliates, and Suzhou Shenghong Garmant Development 
Co. Therefore, the only rate that is not zero, de minimis or based 
entirely on facts otherwise available is the rate calculated for Fujian 
Billion Polymerization Fiber Technology Industrial Co., Ltd. (Fujian 
Billion). Consequently, the rate calculated for Fujian Billion is also 
assigned as the rate for all other producers and exporters.

Preliminary Determination

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
countervailable subsidy rates exist:

[[Page 19042]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                             (percent)
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Fujian Billion Polymerization Fiber Technology                     32.04
 Industrial Co., Ltd \13\...............................
Suzhou Shenghong Fiber Co., Ltd \14\....................          459.98
Suzhou Shenghong Garmant Development Co.................          459.98
All Others..............................................           32.04
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Suspension of Liquidation
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    \13\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with 
Fujian Billion: (1) Billion Development (Hong Kong) Limited and (2) 
Billion Industrial Investment Limited.
    \14\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with 
Suzhou Shenghong Fiber Co., Ltd.: (1) Jiangsu Zhonglu Technology 
Development Co., Ltd., (2) Jiangsu Guowang High-Technique Fiber Co., 
Ltd., (3) Jiangsu Shenghong Science and Technology Co., Ltd., (4) 
Jiangsu Honggang Petrochemical Co., Ltd., (5) Shenghong Group Co., 
Ltd., (6) Shenghong Holding Group, Co., Ltd., (7) Shenghong (Suzhou) 
Group Co., Ltd., (8) Jiangsu Shenghong Investment Development Co., 
Ltd., (9) Jiangsu Shenghong New Material Co., Ltd., and (10) Jiangsu 
Shenghong Textile Imp & Exp Co. and its successor Jiangsu Huahui 
Import and Export Co., Ltd.
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    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (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 
the scope of the investigation section entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register. Further, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.205(d), 
Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the rates 
indicated above.
    Section 703(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an affirmative 
determination of critical circumstances,\15\ any suspension of 
liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of 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 the notice 
of initiation of the investigation was published. Commerce 
preliminarily found that critical circumstances exist for all imports 
of subject merchandise from China. In accordance with section 
703(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the suspension of liquidation shall apply to 
unliquidated entries from all exporters and producers of the subject 
merchandise from China that were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the date which is 90 days before the 
publication of this notice.
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    \15\ See Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances 
Determination, 84 FR at 16842.
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Disclosure

    Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis 
performed to interested parties in this preliminary determination 
within five days of its public announcement, or if there is no public 
announcement, within five days of the date 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

    As stated in the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum, all 
interested parties will have the opportunity to submit case and 
rebuttal briefs on the preliminary scope determination.\16\ The 
deadline for these comments will be established in the Federal Register 
notice regarding the preliminary determination of the companion 
antidumping duty investigation of yarn from China to be issued at a 
later date.
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    \16\ See Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.
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    Case briefs or other written comments, not pertaining to scope 
issues, 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.\17\ 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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    \17\ 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.
    Parties are reminded that briefs and hearing requests are to be 
filed electronically using ACCESS and that electronically filed 
documents must be received successfully in their entirety by 5 p.m. 
Eastern Time on the due date.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of its determination. Pursuant 
to section 705(b)(2) of the Act, if the final determination is 
affirmative, the ITC will make its final injury determination before 
the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination 
or 45 days after the final determination.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: April 26, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation, polyester 
textured yarn, is synthetic multifilament yarn that is manufactured 
from polyester (polyethylene terephthalate). Polyester textured yarn 
is produced through a texturing process, which imparts special 
properties to the filaments of the yarn, including stretch, bulk, 
strength, moisture absorption, insulation, and the appearance of a 
natural fiber. This scope includes all forms of polyester textured 
yarn, regardless of surface texture or appearance, yarn density and 
thickness (as measured in denier), number of filaments, number of 
plies, finish (luster), cross section, color, dye

[[Page 19043]]

method, texturing method, or packing method (such as spindles, 
tubes, or beams).
    Excluded from the scope of the investigation is bulk continuous 
filament yarn that: (a) Is polyester synthetic multifilament yarn; 
(b) has denier size ranges of 900 and above; (c) has turns per meter 
of 40 and above; and (d) has a maximum shrinkage of 2.5 percent.
    The merchandise subject to this investigation is properly 
classified under subheadings 5402.33.3000 and 5402.33.6000 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (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. Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances
IV. Injury Test
V. Application of the CVD Law to Imports From China
VI. Diversification of China's Economy
VII. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
VIII. Subsidies Valuation
IX. Benchmarks and Interest Rates
X. Analysis of Programs
XI. Conclusion

 [FR Doc. 2019-09065 Filed 5-2-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P