[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53678-53680]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21807]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-427-830]
Strontium Chromate From France: Final Affirmative Determination
of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Negative Determination of
Critical Circumstances
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that
strontium chromate from France is being, or is likely to be, sold in
the United States at less than fair value (LTFV) for the period of
investigation (POI) July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018. The final
estimated weighted-average dumping margins are listed below in the
``Final Determination'' section of this notice.
DATES: Applicable October 8, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis McClure or Joshua Simonidis,
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) 482-5973
or (202) 482-0608, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On May 17, 2019, Commerce published in the Federal Register the
Preliminary Determination of sales at LTFV of strontium chromate from
France, in which we also postponed the final determination until
September 30, 2019.\1\ We invited interested parties to comment on the
Preliminary Determination. A summary of the events that occurred since
Commerce published the Preliminary Determination, as well as a full
discussion of the issues raised by parties for this final
determination, may be found in the Issues and Decision Memorandum.\2\
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\1\ See Strontium Chromate From France: Preliminary Affirmative
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Negative
Determination of Critical Circumstances, Postponement of Final
Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 84 FR 22438
(May 17, 2019) (Preliminary Determination), and accompanying
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the
Final Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value
Investigation of Strontium Chromate from France,'' dated
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by this notice (Issues and
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation
The product covered by this investigation is strontium chromate
from France. For a complete description of the scope of this
investigation, see Appendix I of this notice.
Scope Comments
During the course of this investigation of strontium chromate from
France, Commerce did not receive scope comments from interested
parties. Therefore, for this final determination, the scope of this
investigation remains unchanged from that published in the Preliminary
Determination.
Analysis of Comments Received
All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs submitted by
parties in this investigation are addressed in the Issues and Decision
Memorandum accompanying this notice. A list of the issues addressed in
the Issues and Decision Memorandum is attached to this notice as
Appendix II. The Issues and 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 B-8024 of the main Commerce building. In addition, a
complete version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed
directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and
electronic versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical
in content.
Verification
As provided in section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended
(the Act), during June 2019, we conducted verification of the sales and
cost information submitted by Soci[eacute]t[eacute] Nouvelle des
Couleurs Zinciques (SNCZ), the sole mandatory respondent, for use in
our final determination. We used standard verification procedures,
including an examination of relevant accounting and production records,
and original source documents provided by SNCZ.\3\
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\3\ For a discussion of our verification findings, see the
following memoranda: ``Verification of the Cost Response of
Soci[eacute]t[eacute] Nouvelle des Couleurs Zinciques in the Less-
than-Fair-Value Investigation of Strontium Chromate from France,''
dated July 18, 2019; and ``Verification of the Sales Response of
Soci[eacute]t[eacute] Nouvelle des Couleurs Zinciques in the
Antidumping Investigation of Strontium Chromate from France,'' dated
July 22, 2019.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
Based on our analysis of the comments received and our findings at
verification, we made certain changes to
[[Page 53679]]
the margin calculation for SNCZ. For a discussion of these changes, see
the ``Margin Calculations'' section of the Issues and Decision
Memorandum.
Use of Adverse Facts Available
At verification SNCZ failed to properly support the amounts
reported for inland freight to the port and international freight
expenses in its U.S. sales database. Because SNCZ provided information
that cannot be verified, the use of facts available pursuant to section
776(a) of the Act is warranted. Moreover, SNCZ failed to act to the
best of its ability to comply with Commerce's requests for information
within the meaning of section 776(b) of the Act regarding these
movement expenses. We, therefore, applied adverse facts available (AFA)
to these movement expenses, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act. As
partial AFA, we applied the highest recalculated amounts, based on
verification findings, for inland freight to the port and international
freight to the U.S. sales database.\4\
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\4\ For further discussion see Issues and Decision Memorandum.
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All-Others Rate
Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that Commerce shall
determine an estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers
not individually examined. This rate shall be an amount equal to the
weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins
established for exporters and producers individually investigated,
excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined
entirely under section 776 of the Act.
Commerce calculated an individual estimated weighted-average
dumping margin for SNCZ, the only individually examined exporter/
producer in this investigation. Because the only individually
calculated dumping margin is not zero, de minimis, or determined
entirely under section 776 of the Act, the estimated weighted-average
dumping margin calculated for SNCZ is the margin assigned to all other
producers and exporters, pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act.
Final Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances
In accordance with section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206,
we preliminarily determined that critical circumstances did not exist
with respect to imports of strontium chromate from France because
imports were not massive with respect to SNCZ and all other producers
and exporters. For this final determination, our determination remains
unchanged from that published in the Preliminary Determination.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 735(a)(3) of the Act, we find that
critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of
strontium chromate from France. For a full description of the
methodology and results of Commerce's critical circumstances analysis,
see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.
Final Determination
The final estimated weighted-average dumping margins are as
follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated
weighted-
average
Exporter or producer dumping
margin
(percent)
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Soci[eacute]t[eacute] Nouvelle des Couleurs Zinciques....... 32.16
All Others.................................................. 32.16
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Disclosure
We intend to disclose the calculations performed in this final
determination within five days of the date of publication of this
notice to parties in this proceeding in accordance with 19 CFR
351.224(b).
Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, for this final
determination, we will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
to continue to suspend liquidation of all entries of strontium
chromate, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which are entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after May 17, 2019,
the date of publication in the Federal Register of the affirmative
Preliminary Determination.
Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act and 19 CFR
351.210(d), we will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit for such
entries of merchandise equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping
margin as follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for the respondents listed
above will be equal to the respondent-specific estimated weighted-
average dumping margin determined in this final determination; (2) if
the exporter is not a respondent identified above but the producer is,
then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the respondent-specific
estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer
of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other
producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated
weighted-average dumping margin. These suspension-of-liquidation
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the
International Trade Commission (ITC) of the final affirmative
determination of sales at LTFV. Because Commerce's final determination
is affirmative, in accordance with section 735(b)(2) of the Act, the
ITC will make its final determination as to whether the domestic
industry in the United States is materially injured, or threatened with
material injury, by reason of imports, or sales (or the likelihood of
sales) for importation of strontium chromate from France no later than
45 days after this final determination. If the ITC determines that such
injury does not exist, this proceeding will be terminated, and all cash
deposits will be refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines that such
injury does exist, Commerce will issue an antidumping duty order
directing CBP to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce,
antidumping duties on all imports of the subject merchandise entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective
date of the suspension of liquidation, as discussed above in the
``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation'' section.
Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders
This notice serves as a reminder to parties subject to an
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written
notification of return or destruction of APO materials, or conversion
to judicial protective order, is hereby requested. Failure to comply
with the regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable
violation.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination and this notice are issued and published
pursuant to sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR
351.210(c).
Dated: September 30, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I
Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise covered by this investigation is strontium
chromate, regardless of form (including but not limited
[[Page 53680]]
to, powder (sometimes known as granular), dispersions (sometimes
known as paste), or in any solution). The chemical formula for
strontium chromate is SrCrO4 and the Chemical Abstracts Service
(CAS) registry number is 7789-06-2.
Strontium chromate that has been blended with another product or
products is included in the scope if the resulting mix contains 15
percent or more of strontium chromate by total formula weight.
Products with which strontium chromate may be blended include, but
are not limited to, water and solvents such as Aromatic 100 Methyl
Amyl Ketone (MAK)/2-Heptanone, Acetone, Glycol Ether EB, Naphtha
Leicht, and Xylene. Subject merchandise includes strontium chromate
that has been processed in a third country into a product that
otherwise would be within the scope of this investigation if
processed in the country of manufacture of the in-scope strontium
chromate.
The merchandise subject to this investigation is currently
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) under subheading 2841.50.9100. Subject merchandise may also
enter under HTSUS subheading 3212.90.0050. While the HTSUS
subheadings and CAS registry number are provided for convenience and
customs purposes, the written description of the scope is
dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Margin Calculations
V. Final Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances
VI. Discussion of Issues
VII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2019-21807 Filed 10-7-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P