[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 108 (Wednesday, June 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26069-26072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11712]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-095]
Aluminum Wire and Cable From the People's Republic of China:
Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
and Postponement of Final Determination
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines
that aluminum wire and cable from the People's Republic of China
(China) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less
than fair value (LTFV), for the period of investigation January 1,
2018, through June 30, 2018. Interested parties are invited to comment
on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable June 5, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Hoadley or Kathryn Turlo, AD/CVD
Operations, Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3148 or (202) 482-3870,
respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation
on October 18, 2018.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Aluminum Wire and Cable from the People's Republic of
China: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation, 83 FR 52811
(October 18, 2018) (Initiation Notice); see also Memorandum,
``Antidumping Duty Investigation Initiation Checklist: Aluminum Wire
and Cable from the People's Republic of China (China),'' dated
October 11, 2018 (Initiation Checklist).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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\ As a result of the
tolling of deadlines, the revised deadline for the preliminary
determination was April 9, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\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
have been extended by 40 days.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commerce also published the notice of postponement of preliminary
determination of this investigation on March 19, 2019.\3\ Pursuant to
sections 733(c)(1)(B)(i) and (ii) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended
(the Act), we postponed the preliminary determination by 50 days.\4\ As
a result of the postponement, the revised deadline for the preliminary
determination of this investigation is May 29, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See Aluminum Wire Cable from China: Postponement of
Preliminary Determination of Antidumping Duty Investigation, 84 FR
10032 (March 19, 2019).
\4\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.\5\ A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum are 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 it 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 found at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum
and the electronic version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are
identical in content.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Determination in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Aluminum Wire
and Cable from the People's Republic of China'' (Preliminary
Decision Memorandum), dated concurrently with this notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scope of the Investigation
The products covered by this investigation are aluminum wire and
cable from China. For a full description of the scope of this
investigation, see ``Scope of the Investigation'' in Appendix I.
Scope Comments
In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\6\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding the scope of this investigation.\7\ Certain interested
parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in
the Initiation Notice. Commerce is preliminarily modifying the scope
language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the
scope comments submitted to the record for this preliminary
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
\7\ See Initiation Notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) and (b) of the Act,
Commerce preliminarily has relied upon facts otherwise available, with
adverse inferences, for the mandatory respondents Hebei Huatong Wires
and Cables Group Co., Ltd. (Huatong) and
[[Page 26070]]
Shanghai Silin Special Equipment Co., Ltd. (Silin). Additionally,
certain separate rate applicants failed to demonstrate their
eligibility for a separate rate; thus, these companies are
preliminarily found to be part of the China-wide entity.\8\
Furthermore, we find that the China-wide entity's lack of
participation, including the failure of certain parts of the China-wide
entity to respond to Commerce's questionnaires, constitute
circumstances under which it is reasonable to conclude that the China-
wide entity as a whole, including Huatong and Silin, failed to
cooperate to the best of its ability to comply with Commerce's requests
for information. For a full description of the methodology underlying
Commerce's preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ The separate rate applicants preliminarily not receiving a
separate rate are Ahcof International Development Co., Ltd. (Ahcof)
and Jiangsu Ganghong Electric Wire & Power Cable Co., Ltd.
(Jiangsu). For a full description of the methodology underlying
Commerce's preliminary decision, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Separate Rate
In proceedings involving non-market economy (NME) countries,
Commerce maintains a rebuttable presumption that all companies within
the country are subject to government control and, therefore, should be
assessed a single weighted-average dumping margin.\9\ It is Commerce's
policy to assign all exporters of subject merchandise in an NME country
a single rate unless an exporter can demonstrate an absence of
government control, both in law (de jure) and in fact (de facto).\10\
Commerce preliminarily determines that the evidence placed on the
record in this investigation by Changfeng Wire & Cable Co., Ltd.
(Changfeng) and Wuxi Jiangnan Cable Co., Ltd. (Wuxi Jiangnan)
demonstrates an absence of de jure and de facto government control.
Because Commerce preliminarily determined the estimated weighted-
average dumping margin based on total adverse facts available (AFA) for
the mandatory respondents in this investigation in accordance with
section 776 of the Act, the estimated weighted-average dumping margin
determined for the separate rate companies is a simple average of the
Petition rates.\11\ For a full description of the methodology
underlying Commerce's preliminary decision regarding separate rates,
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ See, e.g., Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip
from the People's Republic of China: Final Determination of Sales at
Less Than Fair Value, 73 FR 55039, 55040 (September 24, 2008).
\10\ See Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:
Sparklers from the People's Republic of China, 56 FR 20588, 20589
(May 6, 1991) (Sparklers).
\11\ See letter from the petitioners, ``Aluminum Wire and Cable
from China: Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Petitions,'' dated
September 21, 2018, and letter from the petitioners, ``Aluminum Wire
and Cable from China: Amendment of Petitions and Response to
Commerce's Supplemental Questions,'' dated September 28, 2018
(collectively, the Petition).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated
weighted-average
Estimated dumping margin
weighted-average adjusted for
Exporter Producer dumping margin export subsidies
(percent) (i.e., cash
deposit rate)
(percent)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changfeng Wire & Cable Co., Ltd............ Changfeng Wire & Cable Co., 58.51 58.36
Ltd.
Wuxi Jiangnan Cable Co., Ltd............... Wuxi Jiangnan Cable Co., Ltd. 58.51 58.36
China-wide entity *........................ ............................. 63.47 63.32
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Includes the mandatory respondents, Huatong and Silin.
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 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,
as discussed below. 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 based on the rate indicated in the chart above as follows: (1)
For the producers/exporters listed in the table above, the cash deposit
rate is equal to the rate listed 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 rate established for the China-wide
entity; and (3) for all third-country exporters of merchandise under
consideration not listed in the table above, the cash deposit rate is
the cash deposit rate applicable to the China producer/exporter
combination (or the China-wide entity) that supplied that third-country
exporter.
To determine the cash deposit rate, Commerce normally adjusts the
estimated weighted-average dumping margin by the amount of domestic
subsidy pass-through and export subsidies determined in a companion
countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding when CVD provisional measures are
in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce has made a preliminary
affirmative determination for domestic subsidy pass-through or export
subsidies, Commerce has offset the calculated estimated weighted-
average dumping margin by the appropriate rate(s). Any such adjusted
rates may be found in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section's chart
of estimated weighted-average dumping margins, above.
Should provisional measures in the companion CVD investigation
expire prior to the expiration of provisional measures in this LTFV
investigation, Commerce will direct CBP to begin collecting cash
deposits at a rate equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping
margins calculated in this preliminary determination unadjusted for the
passed-through domestic subsidies or for export subsidies at the time
the CVD provisional measures expire. These suspension of liquidation
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
Disclosure
Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations
performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five
days of its public announcement or, if
[[Page 26071]]
there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of
publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).
However, because Commerce preliminarily applied total AFA to the
individually examined companies in this investigation, in accordance
with section 776 of the Act, and the applied AFA rate is based on a
rate alleged in the Petition, as included in the Initiation Checklist,
there are no calculations to disclose.
Verification
Because the mandatory respondents in this investigation did not
provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily
determines that each of the mandatory respondents have been
uncooperative, verification will not be conducted.
Public Comment
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 30
days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination,
unless the Secretary alters the time limit. Rebuttal briefs, limited to
issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days
after the deadline date for case briefs.\12\ 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general
filing requirements).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
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
petitioners. Section CFR 351.210(e)(2) of Commerce's regulations
requires that requests by respondents for postponement of a 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.
In April 2019, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(b) and (e), Huatong and
Silin requested that Commerce postpone the final determination and that
provisional measures be extended to a period not to exceed six
months.\13\ In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19
CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii) and (e)(2), because: (1) Our 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, we are granting the
respondents' request and are postponing the final determination until
no later than 135 days after the publication of the preliminary
determination notice in the Federal Register, and we are extending
provisional measures from four months to a period not to exceed six
months. Suspension of liquidation will be extended accordingly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ See letter from Huatong, ``Aluminum Wire and Cable from the
People's Republic of China--Request for Extension of Final
Determination and Provisional Measures,'' dated April 11, 2019; and
letter from Silin, ``Aluminum Wire and Cable from People's Republic
of China--Request for Extension of Final Determination and
Provisional Measures,'' dated April 10, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 of sales at LTFV. 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 29, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
Scope of the Investigation
The scope of the investigation covers aluminum wire and cable,
which is defined as an assembly of one or more electrical conductors
made from 8000 Series Aluminum Alloys (defined in accordance with
ASTM B800), Aluminum Alloy 1350 (defined in accordance with ASTM
B230/B230M or B609/B609M), and/or Aluminum Alloy 6201 (defined in
accordance with ASTM B398/B398M), provided that: (1) At least one of
the electrical conductors is insulated; (2) each insulated
electrical conductor has a voltage rating greater than 80 volts and
not exceeding 1,000 volts; and (3) at least one electrical conductor
is stranded and has a size not less than 16.5 thousand circular mil
(kcmil) and not greater than 1,000 kcmil. The assembly may: (1)
Include a grounding or neutral conductor; (2) be clad with aluminum,
steel, or other base metal; or (3) include a steel support center
wire, one or more connectors, a tape shield, a jacket or other
covering, and/or filler materials.
Most aluminum wire and cable products conform to National
Electrical Code (NEC) types THHN, THWN, THWN-2, XHHW-2, USE, USE-2,
RHH, RHW, or RHW-2, and also conform to Underwriters Laboratories
(UL) standards UL-44, UL-83, UL-758, UL-854, UL-1063, UL-1277, UL-
1569, UL-1581, or UL-4703, but such conformity is not required for
the merchandise to be included within the scope.
The scope of the investigation specifically excludes aluminum
wire and cable products in lengths less than six feet, whether or
not included in equipment already assembled at the time of
importation.
The merchandise covered by the investigation is currently
classifiable under subheading 8544.49.9000 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Products subject to the scope
may also enter under HTSUS subheading 8544.42.9090. The HTSUS
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes. The
written description of the scope of the investigation is
dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional
Measures
[[Page 26072]]
V. Scope Comments
VI. Scope of the Investigation
VII. Discussion of the Methodology
A. Non-Market Economy Country
B. Surrogate Country and Surrogate Value Comments
C. Separate Rates
D. The China-wide Entity
E. Application of Facts Available with Adverse Inferences
VIII. Adjustment Under Section 777(A)(f) of the Act
IX. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates for Export Subsidies
X. Verification
XI. Conclusion
[FR Doc. 2019-11712 Filed 6-4-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P