[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25745-25747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11588]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-093]
Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the People's Republic of
China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances,
in Part, 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 refillable stainless steel kegs (kegs) from the People's Republic
of China (China) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United
States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation
(POI) is January 1, 2018, through June 30, 2018. Interested parties are
invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable June 4, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Schauer or Aimee Phelan, 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) 482-0410 or (202) 482-0697,
respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation
on October 16, 2018.\1\ This preliminary determination is made in
accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended
(the Act). 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.\2\ On
March 19, 2019, at the request of the petitioner, Commerce postponed
the deadline for the preliminary determination until May 28, 2019.\3\
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\1\ See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's
Republic of China, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Mexico:
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 83 FR 52195
(October 16, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
\2\ 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
affected by the partial federal government closure have been
extended by 40 days.
\3\ See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the Federal
Republic of Germany, Mexico and the People's Republic of China:
Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-
Value Investigations, 84 FR 10033 (March 19, 2019).
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For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.\4\ A list of topics 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 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/.
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\4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of
Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs 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 are refillable stainless
steel kegs from China. For a complete description of the scope of this
investigation, see Appendix I.
Scope Comments
In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\5\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding product coverage (scope).\6\ 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 rebuttal responses submitted to the record for this investigation,
and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the
Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\7\ The scope case briefs were
due on May 6, 2019, 30 days after the publication of Kegs from China
Preliminary CVD Determination.\8\ There will be no further opportunity
for comments on scope-related issues. Commerce is preliminarily
modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation
Notice.\9\ See the revised scope in Appendix I to this notice.
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\5\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
\6\ See Initiation Notice, 83 FR at 52196.
\7\ See Memorandum, ``Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the
People's Republic of China, Germany, and Mexico: Scope Comments
Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determinations,'' dated
March 29, 2019 (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
\8\ The scope case briefs were due 30 days after the publication
of Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's Republic of
China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty
Determination, 84 FR 13634 (April 5, 2019) (Kegs from China
Preliminary CVD Determination). See the Preliminary Scope Decision
Memorandum at 5. Because the deadline fell on Sunday, May 5, 2019,
the actual deadline for the scope case briefs was Monday, May 6,
2019. See 19 CFR 351.303(b)(1) (``For both electronically filed and
manually filed documents, if the applicable due date falls on a non-
business day, the Secretary will accept documents that are filed on
the next business day.''). The deadline for scope rebuttal briefs
was Monday, May 13, 2019.
\9\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 4; see also
Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum at 15.
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Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Commerce calculated export prices in accordance
with section 772(a) of the Act. Constructed export prices were
calculated in accordance with section 772(b) of the Act. Because China
is a non-market economy country within the meaning of section 771(18)
of the Act, Commerce calculated normal value (NV) in accordance with
section 773(c) of the Act. In addition, pursuant to section 776(a) and
(b) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily relied on facts otherwise
available, with adverse inferences, for the China-wide entity. For a
full description of the methodology underlying Commerce's preliminary
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in
Part
On May 2, 2019, the petitioner filed a timely critical
circumstances allegation with respect to imports of the subject
merchandise from China.\10\ Section 733(e) of the Act provides that
Commerce will preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist
in a LTFV investigation if there is a reasonable basis to believe or
suspect that: (A) There is a history of dumping and material injury by
reason of dumped imports in the United States or elsewhere of the
subject merchandise, or the person by whom, or for whose account, the
merchandise was imported knew or should have known that the
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exporter was selling the subject merchandise at less than its fair
value and that there was likely to be material injury by reason of such
sales; and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject
merchandise over a relatively short period. We preliminarily find that
critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of kegs from China
for the China-wide entity, but do not exist for Ningbo Master
International Trade Co., Ltd., or for the separate rate applicants,
Ningbo Haishu Direct Import And Export Trade Co., Ltd., Guangzhou
Jingye Machinery Co., Ltd., and Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading
Co., Ltd. For a full description of the methodology and results of
Commerce's critical circumstances analysis, see the Preliminary
Decision Memorandum.
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\10\ See the petitioner's Letter, ``Refillable Stainless Steel
Kegs from the People's Republic of China: Petitioner's Critical
Cricumstances Allegation,'' dated May 2, 2019.
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Combination Rates
In the Initiation Notice,\11\ we stated that we would calculate
producer/exporter combination rates for the respondents that are
eligible for a separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin
05.1 describes this practice.\12\ In this investigation, we calculated
producer/exporter combination rates for respondents eligible for
separate rates.
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\11\ See Initiation Notice at 52200.
\12\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1,
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available on
Commerce's website at http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
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Estimated Cash deposit
weighted- rate (adjusted
average for subsidy
Exporter Producer dumping margin offsets)
(percent ad (percent ad
valorem) valorem)
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Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd.... Ningbo Major Draft Beer 2.01 0.00
Equipment Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co., Ltd........... Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co., 2.01 0.00
Ltd.
Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading Co., Ltd.. Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co., 2.01 0.00
Ltd.
Ningbo Haishu Direct Import and Export Trade Ningbo Haishu Xiangsheng Metal 2.01 0.00
Co., Ltd. Products Plant.
China-Wide Entity............................. ................................ 79.71 66.89
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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. 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. We preliminarily find that critical
circumstances exist with respect to imports of kegs from China for the
China-wide entity. Therefore, in accordance with section 733(e)(2)(A)
of the Act, the suspension of liquidation shall apply to all
unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, by the China-wide entity, for consumption on or after the
date which is 90 days before the publication of this notice.
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 weighted-average amount by which NV exceeds U.S. price, as
indicated in the chart above as follows: (1) For the exporter/producer
combinations listed in the table above, the cash deposit rate is equal
to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin listed for that
combination in the table; (2) for all combinations of China producers/
exporters of merchandise under consideration that have not established
eligibility for their own separate rates, the cash deposit rate will be
equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for
the China -wide entity; and (3) for all third-county exporters of
merchandise under consideration not listed in the table above, the cash
deposit rate is the cash deposit rate applicable to the China exporter/
producer combination (or the China-wide entity) that supplied that
third-country exporter. These suspension of liquidation instructions
will remain in effect until further notice.
Disclosure
Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed
in connection with this preliminary determination within five days of
its 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).
Verification
As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to
verify 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 final verification report is
issued in this investigation.\13\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues
raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after
the deadline date for case briefs.\14\ 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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\13\ Case briefs, other written comments, and rebuttal briefs
should not include scope-related issues. See ``Scope Comments''
section, supra.
\14\ 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
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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
antidumping 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 April 24, 2019, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(e), Ningbo Master
International Trade Co., Ltd., requested that Commerce postpone the
final determination and that provisional measures be extended to a
period not to exceed six months.\15\ In accordance with section
735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) the
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, Commerce
is postponing the final determination and extending the provisional
measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six
months. Accordingly, Commerce's final determination will be published
no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this
preliminary determination.
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\15\ See Letter from Ningbo Master International Trade Co.,
Ltd., ``Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from People's Republic of
China--Request for Extension of Final Determination and Provisional
Measures,'' dated April 24, 2019.
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International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of its 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 the final determination
whether imports of the subject merchandise are materially injuring, or
threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.
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: May 28, 2019.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise covered by this investigation are kegs, vessels,
or containers with bodies that are approximately cylindrical in
shape, made from stainless steel (i.e., steel containing at least
10.5 percent chromium by weight and less than 1.2 percent carbon by
weight, with or without other elements), and that are compatible
with a ``D Sankey'' extractor (refillable stainless steel kegs) with
a nominal liquid volume capacity of 10 liters or more, regardless of
the type of finish, gauge, thickness, or grade of stainless steel,
and whether or not covered by or encased in other materials.
Refillable stainless steel kegs may be imported assembled or
unassembled, with or without all components (including spears,
couplers or taps, necks, collars, and valves), and be filled or
unfilled.
``Unassembled'' or ``unfinished'' refillable stainless steel
kegs include drawn stainless steel cylinders that have been welded
to form the body of the keg and attached to an upper (top) chime
and/or lower (bottom) chime. Unassembled refillable stainless steel
kegs may or may not be welded to a neck, may or may not have a valve
assembly attached, and may be otherwise complete except for testing,
certification, and/or marking.
Subject merchandise also includes refillable stainless steel
kegs that have been further processed in a third country, including
but not limited to, attachment of necks, collars, spears or valves,
heat treatment, pickling, passivation, painting, testing,
certification or any other processing that would not otherwise
remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigation if
performed in the country of manufacture of the in-scope refillable
stainless steel keg.
Specifically excluded are the following:
(1) Vessels or containers that are not approximately cylindrical
in nature (e.g., box, ``hopper'' or ``cone'' shaped vessels);
(2) stainless steel kegs, vessels, or containers that have
either a ``ball lock'' valve system or a ``pin lock'' valve system
(commonly known as ``Cornelius,'' ``corny'' or ``ball lock'' kegs);
(3) necks, spears, couplers or taps, collars, and valves that
are not imported with the subject merchandise; and
(4) stainless steel kegs that are filled with beer, wine, or
other liquid and that are designated by the Commissioner of Customs
as Instruments of International Traffic within the meaning of
section 332(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
The merchandise covered by this investigation are currently
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) under subheadings 7310.10.0010, 7310.10.0050, 7310.29.0025,
and 7310.29.0050.
These HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs
purposes; the written description of the scope of this investigation
is dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope Comments
V. Product Characteristics
VI. Selection of Respondents
VII. Discussion of the Methodology
A. Non-Market Economy Country
B. Surrogate Country
C. Surrogate Value Comments
D. Separate Rates
E. Dumping Margin for the Separate Rate Companies
F. Combination Rates
G. China-Wide Entity
H. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
I. Date of Sale
J. Comparisons to Fair Value
K. U.S. Price
L. Normal Value
M. Factor Valuation Methodology
N. Currency Conversion
VIII. Adjustment Under Section 777A(F) of the Act
IX. Critical Circumstances
X. Conclusion
[FR Doc. 2019-11588 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P