[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25748-25750]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11589]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-570-094]
Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the People's Republic of
China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination, in Part, of Critical
Circumstances in the Countervailing Duty Investigation
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
DATES: Applicable June 4, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicholas Czajkowski, 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) 482-1395.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On April 5, 2019, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) published
the preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD)
investigation of imports of refillable stainless steel kegs (kegs) from
the People's Republic of China.\1\ On May 2, 2019, the American Keg
Company LLC (petitioner) alleged that critical circumstances exist with
respect to imports of kegs from China, pursuant to sections 703(e) of
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.206.\2\
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\1\ See 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)
(Preliminary Determination) and accompanying Preliminary Decision
Memorandum (PDM).
\2\ See Letter from the petitioner, ``Refillable Stainless Steel
Kegs from the People's Republic of China: Petitioner's Critical
Circumstances Allegation,'' dated May 2, 2019.
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In accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(ii), if the petitioner
submits an allegation of critical circumstances later than 20 days
before the scheduled date of the preliminary determination, Commerce
must issue a
[[Page 25749]]
preliminary finding whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or
suspect that critical circumstances exist within 30 days of the
petitioner's allegation.
Section 703(e)(1) of the Act provides that Commerce, upon receipt
of a timely allegation of critical circumstances, will preliminarily
determine that critical circumstances exist in CVD investigations if
there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A) ``the
alleged countervailable subsidy'' is inconsistent with the Subsidies
and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement of the World Trade
Organization; and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject
merchandise over a relatively short period. Sections 351.206(h)(2) and
(i) of Commerce's regulations provide that imports must increase by at
least 15 percent during the ``relatively short period'' to be
considered ``massive'' and defines a ``relatively short period'' as
normally being the period beginning on the date the proceeding begins
(i.e., the date the petition is filed) and ending at least three months
later.
Critical Circumstances Analysis
To determine whether an alleged countervailable subsidy is
inconsistent with the SCM Agreement, in accordance with section
703(e)(1)(A) of the Act, Commerce considered the evidence on the record
of this CVD investigation. Specifically, as reflected in the
Preliminary Determination, Commerce found that Ningbo Master
International Trade Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Master), the one participating
mandatory respondent in this investigation, benefitted from the
following export-contingent subsidies: International Market Expansion
Fund and Export Assistance Grants.\3\
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\3\ See e.g., Memorandum to the File, ``Countervailing Duty
Investigation of Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's
Republic of China: Preliminary Determination Calculations for Ningbo
Master International Trade Co., Ltd.,'' dated March 29, 2019.
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In determining whether there are ``massive imports'' over a
``relatively short period,'' pursuant to section 703(e)(1)(B) of the
Act, Commerce normally compares the import volumes of the subject
merchandise for at least three months immediately preceding the filing
of the petition (i.e., the ``base period'') to a comparable period of
at least three months following the filing of the petition (i.e., the
``comparison period'').\4\ Imports will normally be considered massive
when imports during the comparison period have increased by 15 percent
or more compared to imports during the base period.\5\
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\4\ See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations of
Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Preliminary
Determinations of Critical Circumstances, 82 FR 19219 (April 27,
2017) at 19220, unchanged in Certain Softwood Lumber Products from
Canada: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value and Affirmative Final Determination of Critical Circumstances,
82 FR 51806 (November 8, 2017) at 51807-08.
\5\ Id.
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Accordingly, to determine preliminarily whether there has been a
massive surge in imports for Ningbo Master International Trade Co.,
Ltd. (Ningbo Master), the mandatory respondent in this investigation,
which provided shipment data, Commerce compared the total volume of
shipments from October 2018 through April 2019, the comparison period
(i.e., all months for which shipment data was available), with the
preceding seven-month period of March 2018 through September 2018, the
base period. After analyzing the data submitted, we preliminarily
determine imports from Ningbo Master were not massive (i.e., did not
increase by more than 15 percent between the base and comparison
periods) over a relatively short period of time within the context of
19 CFR 351.206(h).\6\
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\6\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Countervailing Duty
Investigation of Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's
Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of Critical
Circumstances'' dated concurrently with this notice.
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As detailed in the Preliminary Determination, Commerce applied an
Adverse Facts Available (AFA) rate for certain companies that did not
act to the best of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for
information.\7\ Therefore, we preliminarily determine, on the basis of
AFA,\8\ that there has been a massive surge in imports for these 19
companies that chose not to participate in this investigation. Further,
in the Preliminary Determination, we preliminarily determined that all
19 companies benefited from export-contingent countervailable
subsidies, including the ``International Market Expansion Fund'' and
``Export Assistance Grants'' programs.\9\ Therefore, we preliminarily
find that these companies received countervailable subsidies that are
inconsistent with the SCM Agreement, in accordance with section
703(e)(1)(A) of the Act. As such, we preliminarily determine that
critical circumstances exist with respect to these AFA companies only.
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\7\ See PDM at pages 14-17. Specifically, one mandatory
respondent, Penglai Jinfu Stainless Steel Products Co., Ltd., failed
to respond to Commerce's questionnaire, and the following 18
companies failed to respond to Commerce's Quantity and Value
Questionnaire: Equipmentines (Dalian) E[hyphen]Commerce Co., Ltd.;
Jinan HaoLu Machinery Equipment Co., Ltd.; NDL Keg Qingdao Inc.;
Ningbo Direct Import & Export Co., Ltd.; Ningbo Hefeng Container
Manufacture Co., Ltd.; Ningbo Hefeng Kitchen Utensils Manufacture
Co., Ltd.; Ningbo HGM Food Machinery Co., Ltd.; Ningbo Jiangbei Bei
Fu Industry and Trade Co., Ltd.; Ningbo Sanfino Import & Export Co.,
Ltd.; Ningbo Shimaotong International Co., Ltd.; Ningbo Sunburst
International Trading Co., Ltd.; Orient Equipment (Taizhou) Co.,
Ltd.; Qingdao Henka Precision Technology Co., Ltd.; Shandong Tiantai
Beer Equipment; Sino Dragon Trading International; Wenzhou Deli
Machinery Equipment Co.; Wuxi Taihu Lamps and Lanterns Co., Ltd.;
and Yantai Trano New Material Co., Ltd.
\8\ See section 776 of the Act.
\9\ See PDM at pages 15-17 and Appendix.
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To determine whether imports were massive for all other producers/
exporters, Commerce's normal practice is to subtract shipments reported
by the cooperating mandatory respondents from shipment data of subject
merchandise compiled by the ITC.\10\ However, as discussed in the
Initiation Notice \11\ for this investigation, the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) numbers under which the subject
merchandise would enter are basket categories containing a wide variety
of manufactured steel products unrelated to kegs. Therefore, consistent
with prior practice, we have preliminarily relied upon the
participating respondent company's data as ``facts available'' in
accordance with section 776(a)(1) of the Act to determine whether
imports from all other producers/exporters were massive.\12\ Based on
the import data submitted by Ningbo Master, we have preliminarily
determined that imports from all other producers/exporters likewise
were not massive.
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\10\ See, e.g., Antidumping Duty Investigation on Refillable
Stainless Steel Kegs from Mexico: Preliminary Affirmative
Determination of Critical Circumstances, 84 FR 18796 (May 2, 2019)
at 18798 (Kegs from Mexico Preliminary Critical Circumstances
Determination).
\11\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Countervailing Duty
Investigation Initiation Checklist: Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs
from the People's Republic of China,'' dated October 10, 2018
(Initiation Checklist); see also Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs
from the Peoples Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing
Duty Investigation, 83 FR 52192 (October 16, 2018) (Initiation
Notice).
\12\ See, e.g., Kegs from Mexico Preliminary Critical
Circumstances Determination, 84 FR at 18798.
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Final Critical Circumstances Determination
We will issue our final determinations concerning critical
circumstances when we issue our final CVD determination. All interested
parties will have the opportunity to address this determination. Case
briefs, addressing critical circumstances only, may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven
days after the publication date of this notice. Rebuttal briefs,
limited to issues raised in these critical circumstances-only case
briefs, may be
[[Page 25750]]
submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case
briefs.\13\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who
submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs for this critical circumstances
finding 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\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general
filing requirements).
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ITC Notification
In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the
ITC of this preliminary determination of critical circumstances.
Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 703(e)(2)(A) of the Act, for the 19
companies that chose not to participate in this investigation, we will
direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation
of any unliquidated entries of subject merchandise from China entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 5,
2019, which is 90 days prior to the date of publication of the
Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register. For such entries,
CBP shall require a cash deposit equal to the estimated preliminary
subsidy rates established for these companies in the Preliminary
Determination. This suspension of liquidation will remain in effect
until further notice.
This determination is issued and published pursuant to section
777(i) of the Act.
Dated: May 28, 2019.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2019-11589 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P