[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 145 (Monday, July 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36570-36572]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-16037]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-533-888]


Carbon and Alloy Steel Threaded Rod From India: 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 carbon and alloy steel threaded rod (steel threaded rod) 
from India for the period of investigation (POI) January 1, 2018 
through December 31, 2018. Interested parties are invited to comment on 
this preliminary determination.

DATES: Applicable July 29, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Genevieve Coen, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3251.

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 March 19, 
2019.\1\ On April 25, 2019, in accordance with section 703(c)(1)(A) of 
the Act, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination in this 
investigation to July 22, 2019.\2\
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    \1\ See Carbon and Alloy Steel Threaded Rod from India and the 
People's Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty 
Investigations, 84 FR 10040 (March 19, 2019) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Carbon and Alloy Steel Threaded Rod from India and the 
People's Republic of China: Postponement of Preliminary 
Determinations in the Countervailing Duty Investigations, 84 FR 
17379 (April 25, 2019).
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\3\ 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 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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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination: Countervailing Duty Investigation of 
Carbon and Alloy Steel Threaded Rod from India,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by the scope of this investigation is steel 
thread rod from India. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see Appendix I to this notice.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\4\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage, (i.e., scope).\5\ 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 preliminary 
determination, and accompanying discussion and analysis of all comments 
timely received, see the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\6\ 
Commerce is preliminarily modifying the scope language as it appeared 
in the initiation notice.\7\ See the revised scope in Appendix I to 
this notice.
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    \4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \5\ See Initiation Notice.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Carbon and Alloy Steel Threaded Rod from 
India, Taiwan, Thailand, and the People's Republic of China: Scope 
Comments Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determinations,'' 
dated July 22, 2019.
    \7\ Id. at 3-4.
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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 gives 
rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is 
specific.\8\ In making these findings, Commerce relied, in part, on 
facts available and because one or more respondents did not act to the 
best of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for 
information, Commerce drew an adverse inference where appropriate in 
selecting from among the facts otherwise available.\9\ For further 
information, see ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse 
Inferences'' in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \8\ 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.
    \9\ 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), and based on the petitioner's request,\10\ Commerce is 
aligning the final countervailing duty (CVD) determination in this 
investigation with the final determination in the companion antidumping 
duty (AD) investigation of carbon and alloy steel threaded rod from 
India. Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued on the 
same date as the final AD determination, which is currently scheduled 
to be issued no later than December 3, 2019, unless postponed.
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    \10\ See Petitioners' letter, ``Carbon and Alloy Steel Threaded 
Rod from India: Request to Align Determinations,'' dated July 8, 
2019.
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All-Others Rate

    Sections 703(d) 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 under section 
776 of the Act.
    In this investigation, Commerce preliminarily assigned a rate based 
entirely on facts available to Daksh Fasteners (Daksh). Therefore, the 
only rate that is not zero, de minimis or based entirely on facts 
otherwise available is the rate calculated for Mangal Steel Enterprises 
Limited (Mangal). Consequently, the rate calculated for Mangal 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:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Net
                                                                subsidy
                           Company                               rate
                                                               (percent)
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Daksh Fasteners.............................................      155.03
Mangal Steel Enterprises Limited............................        6.07

[[Page 36571]]

 
All Others..................................................        6.07
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 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 section 
703(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), Commerce will instruct 
CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the rates indicated above.

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

    Case briefs or other written comments regarding non-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 submitting non-scope related case 
briefs.\11\ The deadlines for scope-related comments and rebuttals are 
set in the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\12\
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    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
    \12\ See Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.
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    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.
    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 5:00 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. 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 pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: July 22, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by the scope of this investigation is 
carbon and alloy steel threaded rod. Steel threaded rod is certain 
threaded rod, bar, or studs, of carbon or alloy steel, having a 
solid, circular cross section of any diameter, in any straight 
length. Steel threaded rod is normally drawn, cold-rolled, threaded, 
and straightened, or it may be hot-rolled. In addition, the steel 
threaded rod, bar, or studs subject to this investigation are non-
headed and threaded along greater than 25 percent of their total 
actual length. A variety of finishes or coatings, such as plain oil 
finish as a temporary rust protectant, zinc coating (i.e., 
galvanized, whether by electroplating or hot-dipping), paint, and 
other similar finishes and coatings, may be applied to the 
merchandise.
    Steel threaded rod is normally produced to American Society for 
Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications ASTM A36, ASTM A193 B7/
B7m, ASTM A193 B16, ASTM A307, ASTM A320 L7/L7M, ASTM A320 L43, ASTM 
A354 BC and BD, ASTM A449, ASTM F1554-36, ASTM F1554-55, ASTM F1554 
Grade 105, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 
specification ASME B18.31.3, and American Petroleum Institute (API) 
specification API 20E. All steel threaded rod meeting the physical 
description set forth above is covered by the scope of this 
investigation, whether or not produced according to a particular 
standard.
    Subject merchandise includes material matching the above 
description that has been finished, assembled, or packaged in a 
third country, including by cutting, chamfering, coating, or 
painting the threaded rod, by attaching the threaded rod to, or 
packaging it with, another product, or any other finishing, 
assembly, or packaging operation that would not otherwise remove the 
merchandise from the scope of the investigation if performed in the 
country of manufacture of the threaded rod.
    Carbon and alloy steel threaded rod are also included in the 
scope of this investigation whether or not imported attached to, or 
in conjunction with, other parts and accessories such as nuts and 
washers. If carbon and alloy steel threaded rod are imported 
attached to, or in conjunction with, such non-subject merchandise, 
only the threaded rod is included in the scope.
    Excluded from the scope of this investigation are: (1) threaded 
rod, bar, or studs which are threaded only on one or both ends and 
the threading covers 25 percent or less of the total actual length; 
and (2) stainless steel threaded rod, defined as steel threaded rod 
containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 
percent or more of chromium, with our without other elements.
    Excluded from the scope of the antidumping investigation on 
steel threaded rod from the People's Republic of China is any 
merchandise covered by the existing antidumping order on Certain 
Steel Threaded Rod from the People's Republic of China. See Certain 
Steel Threaded Rod from the People's Republic of China: Notice of 
Antidumping Duty Order, 74 FR 17154 (April 14, 2009).
    Specifically excluded from the scope of this investigation is 
threaded rod that is imported as part of a package of hardware in 
conjunction with a ready-to-assemble piece of furniture.
    Steel threaded rod is currently classifiable under subheadings 
7318.15.5051, 7318.15.5056, and 7318.15.5090 of the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Subject merchandise 
may also enter under subheading 7318.15.2095 and 7318.19.0000 of the 
HTSUS. The HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and U.S. 
Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope is 
dispositive.

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Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Injury Test
VI. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
VII. Subsidies Valuation
VIII. Benchmarks and Discount Rates
IX. Analysis of Programs
X. ITC Notification
XI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2019-16037 Filed 7-26-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P