[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 879-881]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00052]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-896]


Magnesium Metal From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2018-2019

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is conducting the 
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal 
from the People's Republic of China (China), covering the period April 
1, 2018 through March 31, 2019. Commerce preliminarily determines that 
Tianjin Magnesium International, Co., Ltd. (TMI) and Tianjin Magnesium 
Metal, Co., Ltd. (TMM) did not have reviewable entries during the 
period of review (POR). We invite interested parties to comment on 
these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable January 8, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kyle Clahane, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5449.

Background

    On April 1, 2019, Commerce published a notice of opportunity to 
request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on 
magnesium metal from China for the POR.\1\ On June 13, 2019, in 
response to a timely request from US Magnesium LLC (the

[[Page 880]]

petitioner),\2\ and in accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act 
of 1930, as amended (the Act) and 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), we initiated 
an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium 
metal from China with respect to TMI and TMM.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative 
Review, 84 FR 12207 (April 1, 2019).
    \2\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Magnesium Metal from the People's 
Republic of China: Request for Administrative Review,'' dated April 
30, 2019.
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 84 FR 27587 (June 13, 2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scope of the Order

    The product covered by this antidumping duty order is magnesium 
metal from China, which includes primary and secondary alloy magnesium 
metal, regardless of chemistry, raw material source, form, shape, or 
size. Magnesium is a metal or alloy containing by weight primarily the 
element magnesium. Primary magnesium is produced by decomposing raw 
materials into magnesium metal. Secondary magnesium is produced by 
recycling magnesium-based scrap into magnesium metal. The magnesium 
covered by this order includes blends of primary and secondary 
magnesium.
    The subject merchandise includes the following alloy magnesium 
metal products made from primary and/or secondary magnesium including, 
without limitation, magnesium cast into ingots, slabs, rounds, billets, 
and other shapes; magnesium ground, chipped, crushed, or machined into 
rasping, granules, turnings, chips, powder, briquettes, and other 
shapes; and products that contain 50 percent or greater, but less than 
99.8 percent, magnesium, by weight, and that have been entered into the 
United States as conforming to an ``ASTM Specification for Magnesium 
Alloy'' \4\ and are thus outside the scope of the existing antidumping 
orders on magnesium from China (generally referred to as ``alloy'' 
magnesium).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ The meaning of this term is the same as that used by the 
American Society for Testing and Materials in its Annual Book for 
ASTM Standards: Volume 01.02 Aluminum and Magnesium Alloys.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The scope of this order excludes: (1) All forms of pure magnesium, 
including chemical combinations of magnesium and other material(s) in 
which the pure magnesium content is 50 percent or greater, but less 
than 99.8 percent, by weight, that do not conform to an ``ASTM 
Specification for Magnesium Alloy''; \5\ (2) magnesium that is in 
liquid or molten form; and (3) mixtures containing 90 percent or less 
magnesium in granular or powder form by weight and one or more of 
certain non-magnesium granular materials to make magnesium-based 
reagent mixtures, including lime, calcium metal, calcium silicon, 
calcium carbide, calcium carbonate, carbon, slag coagulants, fluorspar, 
nephaline syenite, feldspar, alumina (Al203), calcium aluminate, soda 
ash, hydrocarbons, graphite, coke, silicon, rare earth metals/
mischmetal, cryolite, silica/fly ash, magnesium oxide, periclase, 
ferroalloys, dolomite lime, and colemanite.\6\ The merchandise subject 
to this order is classifiable under items 8104.19.00, and 8104.30.00 of 
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although 
the HTSUS items are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the 
written description of the merchandise is dispositive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ The material is already covered by existing antidumping 
orders. See Notice of Antidumping Duty Orders: Pure Magnesium from 
the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and Ukraine; 
Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Pure Magnesium from the 
Russian Federation, 60 FR 25691 (May 12, 1995); and Antidumping Duty 
Order: Pure Magnesium in Granular Form from the People's Republic of 
China, 66 FR 57936 (November 19, 2001).
    \6\ This third exclusion for magnesium-based reagent mixtures is 
based on the exclusion for reagent mixtures in the 2000-2001 
investigations of magnesium from China, Israel, and Russia. See 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Pure Magnesium 
in Granular Form from the People's Republic of China, 66 FR 49345 
(September 27, 2001); see also Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value: Pure Magnesium from Israel, 66 FR 49349 (September 
27, 2001); and Final Determination of Sales at Not Less Than Fair 
Value: Pure Magnesium From the Russian Federation, 66 FR 49347 
(September 27, 2001). These mixtures are not magnesium alloys, 
because they are not combined in liquid form and cast into the same 
ingot.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preliminary Determination of No Shipments

    We received timely submissions from TMI and TMM certifying that 
they did not have sales, shipments, or exports of subject merchandise 
to the United States during the POR.\7\ On December 16, 2019, we 
requested the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data file of 
entries of subject merchandise imported into the United States during 
the POR, and exported by TMM and/or TMI. This query returned no entries 
during the POR.\8\ Additionally, we sent an inquiry to CBP requesting 
that any CBP officer alert Commerce if he/she had information contrary 
to TMM's and TMI's no-shipments claims.\9\ We received no such 
information in response.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ See TMI's Letter, ``Magnesium Metal from the People's 
Republic of China; A-570-896; Certification of No Sales by Tianjin 
Magnesium International, Ltd.,'' dated July 12, 2019, at 1; see also 
TMM's Letter, ``Magnesium Metal from the People's Republic of China; 
A-570-896; Certification of No Sales by Tianjin Magnesium Metal, 
Co., Ltd.,'' dated July 12, 2019, at 1.
    \8\ See Memorandum, ``2017-2018 Administrative Review of 
Magnesium Metal from the People's Republic of China, U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection Data'' dated December 26, 2019, at Attachment 
1.
    \9\ Id. at Attachment 2.
    \10\ Id. at Attachment 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Accordingly, and consistent with our practice, we preliminarily 
determine that TMI and TMM had no shipments and, therefore, no 
reviewable entries during the POR. In addition, we find it is not 
appropriate to rescind the review with respect to these companies, but 
rather to complete the review with respect to TMI and TMM and issue 
appropriate instructions to CBP based on the final results of the 
review, consistent with our practice in non-market economy (NME) 
cases.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \11\ See Glycine from the People's Republic of China: Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review 2014-2015, 81 FR 
72567 (October 20, 2016), and the ``Assessment Rates'' section, 
below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Comment

    Interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register.\12\ Rebuttals to case briefs, which must be limited to issues 
raised in the case briefs, must be filed within five days after the 
date for filing case briefs.\13\ Parties who submit arguments are 
requested to submit with each argument: (a) A statement of the issue, 
(b) a brief summary of the argument, and (c) a table of 
authorities.\14\ Parties submitting briefs should do so via Enforcement 
and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized 
Electronic Service System (ACCESS).\15\ ACCESS is available to 
registered users at https://access.trade.gov, and is available to all 
parties in the Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Commerce 
building.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1)-(2).
    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2), (d)(2).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.303 (for general filing requirements).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce 
within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice. Hearing 
requests should contain the following information: (1) The party's 
name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants; 
and (3) a list of the issues parties intend to discuss. Issues raised 
in the hearing will be

[[Page 881]]

limited to those raised in the respective case and rebuttal briefs. If 
a request for a hearing is made, parties will be notified of the time 
and date of the hearing, which will be held at the U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230.
    Unless extended, we intend to issue the final results of this 
administrative review, including our analysis of all issues raised in 
any written brief, within 120 days of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.

Assessment Rates

    Upon issuance of the final results, Commerce will determine, and 
CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered 
by this review.\16\ We intend to issue assessment instructions to CBP 
15 days after the publication date of the final results of this review. 
Pursuant to Commerce's practice in NME cases, if we continue to 
determine in the final results that TMI and TMM had no shipments of 
subject merchandise, any suspended entries of subject merchandise 
during the POR from these companies will be liquidated at the China-
wide rate.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
    \17\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Non-Market 
Economy Antidumping Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 
76 FR 65694 (October 24, 2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the final results of this administrative review for all 
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the 
final results of review, as provided for by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the 
Act: (1) For TMI, which claimed no shipments, the cash deposit rate 
will remain unchanged from the rate assigned to TMI in the most 
recently completed review of the company; (2) for previously 
investigated or reviewed Chinese and non-Chinese exporters who are not 
under review in this segment of the proceeding but who have separate 
rates, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the exporter-specific 
rate published for the most recent period; (3) for all Chinese 
exporters of subject merchandise that have not been found to be 
entitled to a separate rate (including TMM, which claimed no shipments, 
but has not been found to be separate from China-wide entity), the cash 
deposit rate will be China-wide rate of 141.49 percent; and (4) for all 
non-Chinese exporters of subject merchandise which have not received 
their own rate, the cash deposit rate will be the rate applicable to 
Chinese exporter(s) that supplied that non-Chinese exporter. These 
deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until 
further notice.

Notification to Importers

    This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of 
their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate 
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation 
of the relevant entries during this period. Failure to comply with this 
requirement may result in the Secretary's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.
    This notice is issued in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 
777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: December 30, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2020-00052 Filed 1-7-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P