[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 241 (Monday, December 16, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68405-68407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27128]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-428-846, A-570-093]
Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the Federal Republic of
Germany and the People's Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Orders
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of
Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC),
Commerce is issuing antidumping duty orders on refillable stainless
steel kegs from the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany) and the
People's Republic of China (China).
DATES: Applicable December 16, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael A. Romani (Germany) and Thomas
Schauer (China), 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) 482-0189 and (202) 482-0410, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In accordance with sections 735(a), 735(d), and 777(i)(1) of the
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.210(c), on
October 24, 2019, Commerce published its affirmative final
determinations in the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigations of
refillable stainless steel kegs from Germany and China, including its
affirmative determination of critical circumstances with respect to
certain imports of subject merchandise from China.\1\ On December 9,
2019, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determinations pursuant to
section 735(b)(1)(A) of the Act that an industry in the United States
is materially retarded by reason of the LTFV imports of refillable
stainless steel kegs from Germany and China, and its determination that
critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of subject
merchandise from China.\2\
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\1\ See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from Germany: Final
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 84 FR
57008 (October 24, 2019); and Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from
the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of
Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Affirmative Determination of
Critical Circumstances, in Part, 84 FR 57010 (October 24, 2019)
(China Final Determination).
\2\ See Notification Letter from the ITC dated December 9, 2019.
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Scope of the Orders
The merchandise covered by these orders are refillable stainless
steel kegs. For a complete description of the scope of the orders, see
the appendix to this notice.
Antidumping Duty Orders
As stated above, on December 9, 2019, in accordance with sections
735(b)(1)(B) and 735(d) of the Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its
final determinations in these investigations, in which it found that
the establishment of an industry in the United States is materially
retarded within the meaning of section 735(b)(1)(B) by reason of
imports of
[[Page 68406]]
refillable stainless steel kegs from Germany and China, and further
found that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports
of subject merchandise from China that are subject to Commerce's
affirmative critical circumstances finding. Therefore, in accordance
with section 735(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is issuing these
antidumping duty orders.
Because the ITC determined that the establishment of an industry in
the United States is materially retarded by imports of refillable
stainless steel kegs from Germany and China that are sold at LTFV, and
is not accompanied by a finding that injury would have resulted but for
the imposition of suspension of liquidation of entries since Commerce's
Preliminary Determination, section 736(b)(2) of the Act is applicable.
Accordingly, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) to assess, upon further instruction from Commerce, antidumping
duties equal to the amount by which the normal value of the refillable
stainless steel kegs from Germany or China exceed the export price (or
constructed export price) of the merchandise for entries of refillable
stainless steel kegs from Germany or China which are entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of
publication of the ITC's final affirmative determination, under section
735(b) of the Act.
Suspension of Liquidation
With respect to Germany, in accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of
the Act, Commerce will instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation
of all appropriate entries of refillable stainless steel kegs from
Germany as described in the appendix to this notice which are entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of
publication of the ITC's notice of final determination in the Federal
Register. We will also instruct CBP to require, at the same time as
importers would normally deposit estimated customs duties on this
merchandise, cash deposits for the subject merchandise equal to the
estimated weighted-average antidumping margins listed below, adjusted
for the subsidy offset, as appropriate. The all-others rate applies to
all producers or exporters not specifically listed.
With respect to China, in accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of
the Act, Commerce will instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation
of all entries of refillable stainless steel kegs from China, as
described in the appendix to this notice, with the exception of entries
of subject merchandise that were produced by Ningbo Major Draft Beer
Equipment Co., Ltd., and exported by Ningbo Master International Trade
Co., Ltd. Because we determined the weighted-average dumping margin for
such entries to be zero, we are excluding entries of subject
merchandise that were produced by Ningbo Major Draft Beer Equipment
Co., Ltd., and exported by Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd.,
from the antidumping duty order. On the basis of the negative Final
Determination \3\ for this producer/exporter combination, we ordered
CBP to discontinue the suspension of liquidation and to refund all cash
deposits collected for this producer/exporter combination. Such
exclusion will not be applicable to merchandise exported to the United
States by any other producer/exporter combinations or by third-country
exporters that sourced from the excluded producer/exporter
combination(s). Moreover, consistent with the decision of the Court of
International Trade in Changzhou Hawd Flooring, we will not exclude
from the antidumping duty order the separate-rate-eligible non-selected
respondents.\4\ The China-wide entity rate applies to all exporter-
producer combinations not specifically listed below.
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\3\ See China Final Determination.
\4\ See Changzhou Hawd Flooring Co. v. United States, 324 F.
Supp. 3d 1317 (CIT 2018) (Changzhou Hawd Flooring).
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In accordance with section 736(b)(2) of the Act, Commerce will also
direct CBP to release any bond or other security, and refund any cash
deposit made, to secure the payment of antidumping duties with respect
to entries of the merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption before the date of publication of the ITC's final
affirmative determination under section 735(b) of the Act. Further,
Commerce will instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation
of, and to liquidate without regard to antidumping duties, entries of
refillable stainless steel kegs from Germany and China which are
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption prior to the date
of publication of the ITC's affirmative determinations under section
735(b) of the Act.
Provisional Measures and Critical Circumstances
Section 733(d) of the Act states that suspension of liquidation
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in
effect for more than four months, except where exporters representing a
significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise request
Commerce to extend that four-month period to no more than six months.
At the request of exporters that account for a significant proportion
of refillable stainless steel kegs from Germany and China, Commerce
extended the four-month period to six months.\5\ In the underlying
investigations, Commerce published the preliminary determinations on
June 4, 2019. Therefore, the extended period, beginning on the date of
publication of the Preliminary Determination, ended on November 30,
2019. Furthermore, section 737(b) of the Act states that definitive
duties are to begin on the date of publication of the ITC's final
injury determination.
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\5\ See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the Federal
Republic of Germany: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales
at Less Than Fair Value, and Postponement of Final Determination, 84
FR 25736, 25737 (June 4, 2019); and 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, 84 FR 25745, 25747 (June 4, 2019).
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Because the ITC determined, in accordance with Section 733(d) of
the Act, that the establishment of an industry in the United States is
materially retarded within the meaning of section 735(b)(1)(B) of the
Act by reason of imports of refillable stainless steel kegs from
Germany and China sold at LTFV, and further found that critical
circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of subject
merchandise from China pursuant to section 735(c)(3) of the Act,
provisional measures are inapplicable. Accordingly, Commerce will
instruct CBP to terminate any retroactive suspension of liquidation,
release any bond or other security, and refund any cash deposit
required to secure the payment of antidumping duties with respect to
entries of refillable stainless steel kegs entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption before the date of publication of the ITC's
final affirmative determination under section 735(b) of the Act.
Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins
The weighted-average antidumping duty margin percentages and cash
deposit rates are as follows:
Germany
[[Page 68407]]
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Estimated weighted-
Exporter/producer average dumping
margin (percent)
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Blefa GmbH......................................... 7.47
All Others......................................... 7.47
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China
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Cash deposit rate
Estimated weighted- (adjusted for
Exporter Producer average dumping subsidy offsets)
margin (percent ad (percent ad
valorem) valorem)
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Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd Ningbo Major Draft Beer \6\ 0.00 N/A
Equipment Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co., Ltd....... Guangzhou Jingye Machinery \7\ 0.00 0.0
Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading Co., Guangzhou Jingye Machinery \8\ 0.00 0.0
Ltd. Co., Ltd.
China-Wide Entity......................... ............................ 77.13 63.60
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Notification to Interested Parties
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\6\ Entries of subject merchandise that were produced by Ningbo
Major Draft Beer Equipment Co., Ltd., and exported by Ningbo Master
International Trade Co., Ltd. are excluded from the antidumping duty
order.
\7\ This producer/exporter combination is based on the rate
calculated for Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd.
\8\ Id.
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This notice constitutes the antidumping duty order with respect to
refillable stainless steel kegs from Germany and China pursuant to
section 736(a) of the Act. Interested parties can find a list of
antidumping duty orders currently in effect at http://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.
This order is issued and published in accordance with section
736(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).
Dated: December 11, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix
Scope of the Orders
The merchandise covered by the orders 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 orders 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 the orders 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 the orders is
dispositive.
[FR Doc. 2019-27128 Filed 12-13-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P