[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 15, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2400-2402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00492]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-831]


Fresh Garlic From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Results, Preliminary Rescission, and Final Rescission, in Part, of the 
24th Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2017-2018

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is conducting the 24th 
administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on fresh 
garlic from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of 
review (POR) for this administrative review is November 1, 2017 through 
October 31, 2018. Commerce preliminarily determines that mandatory 
respondent, Shijiazhuang Goodman Trading Co., Ltd. (Goodman), sold 
subject merchandise to the United States at less than normal value 
(NV). We also preliminarily find that the review requests made by the 
Coalition for Fair Trade in Garlic, and its individual members 
(collectively, the CFTG), and Roots Farm Inc. (Roots Farm) were not 
valid, and accordingly have preliminarily rescinded the review with 
respect to nineteen companies, including the other mandatory 
respondent, Zhengzhou Harmoni Spice Co., Ltd. (Harmoni). We invite 
interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable January 15, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathryn Wallace or Alex Cipolla, 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) 482-6251 or (202) 
482-4956, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On February 6, 2019, Commerce initiated the 24th administrative 
review of the AD order on fresh garlic from China with respect to 23 
companies and invited interested parties to comment.\1\ On March 14, 
2019, Commerce initiated this review with respect to ten companies that 
were inadvertently omitted from the Initiation Notice.\2\ 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.\3\ If the new deadline 
falls on a non-business day, in accordance with Commerce's practice, 
the deadline will become the next business day. The revised deadline 
for the preliminary results, after tolling, was September 11, 2019. On 
August 23, 2019, Commerce extended the deadline for the preliminary 
results of this review.\4\ The revised deadline for the preliminary 
results is now January 9, 2020.
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 84 FR 2159 (February 6, 2019) (Initiation 
Notice).
    \2\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 84 FR 9297 (March 14, 2019) (Second 
Initiation).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``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.
    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Fresh Garlic from the People's Republic of 
China--24th Administrative Review (2017-2018): Extension of Deadline 
for the Preliminary Results of the Review,'' dated August 23, 2019.
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the order includes all grades of garlic, 
whole or separated into constituent cloves. Fresh garlic that are 
subject to the order are currently classified under the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) 0703.30.0005, 
0703.20.0000, 0703.20.0010, 0703.20.0015, 0703.20.0020, 0703.20.0090, 
0710.80.7060, 0710.80.9750, 0711.90.6000, 0711.90.6500, 2005.90.9500, 
2005.90.9700, and 2005.99.9700. Although the HTSUS numbers are provided 
for convenience and customs purposes, the written product description 
remains dispositive. For a full description of the scope of this order, 
see ``Scope of the Order'' in the accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\5\
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    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results, Preliminary Rescission, and Final Rescission, In Part, of 
the 2017-2018 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Fresh Garlic 
from the People's Republic of China,'' dated concurrently with, and 
hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Partial Rescission of Administrative Review

    On February 6 and March 14, 2019, Commerce initiated the 24th 
administrative review of the AD order on fresh garlic from China with 
respect to 33 companies.\6\ On June 11, 2019, the petitioners \7\ 
timely withdrew their sole requests for review of eight companies.\8\ 
Therefore, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce is 
partially rescinding this administrative review with respect to the 
companies listed in Appendix II.
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    \6\ See Initiation Notice; and Second Initiation.
    \7\ The petitioners are the Fresh Garlic Producers Association 
(FGPA) and its individual members: Christopher Ranch L.L.C., The 
Garlic Company, and Valley Garlic.
    \8\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``24th Administrative Review of the 
Antidumping Duty Order on Fresh Garlic from the People's Republic of 
China--Petitioners' Partial Withdrawal of Review Request,'' dated 
June 11, 2019.
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Preliminary Rescission of Administrative Review

    In addition, as discussed at ``Partial Rescission of Administrative 
Review'' in

[[Page 2401]]

the accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Commerce has 
preliminarily determined that the review requests submitted by the CFTG 
and Roots Farm were invalid, and is preliminarily rescinding the 
administrative review with respect to the 19 companies solely requested 
by the CFTG and Roots Farm. These companies are listed in Appendix III.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with sections 
751(a)(1)(B) and (2)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the 
Act), and 19 CFR 351.214. Export prices were calculated in accordance 
with section 772(a) of the Act. Because China is a non-market economy 
(NME) within the meaning of section 771(18) of the Act, NV has been 
calculated in accordance with section 773(c) of the Act.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of topics 
discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is provided in 
Appendix I. 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 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.

China-Wide Entity

    Commerce's policy regarding conditional review of the China-wide 
entity applies to this administrative review.\9\ Under this policy, the 
China-wide entity will not be under review unless a party specifically 
requests, or Commerce self-initiates, a review of the entity. Because 
no party requested a review of the China-wide entity in this review, 
the entity is not under review and the entity's rate (i.e., $4.71 per 
kilogram (kg)) is not subject to change. Aside from the no shipments 
companies discussed below, and the companies for which the review is 
being rescinded, Commerce considers all other companies for which a 
review was requested, and which did not preliminarily qualify for a 
separate rate, to be part of the China-wide entity. For additional 
information, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \9\ See Antidumping Proceedings: Announcement of Change in 
Department Practice for Respondent Selection in Antidumping Duty 
Proceedings and Conditional Review of the Nonmarket Economy Entity 
in NME Antidumping Duty Proceedings, 78 FR 65963 (November 4, 2013).
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Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we intend to verify the 
information provided by respondents using standard verification 
procedures, including on-site inspection of the producer's and 
exporter's facilities, and examination of relevant sales and financial 
records. Our verification results will be outlined in the verification 
report for the respective respondents after completion of the 
verification.

Preliminary Determination Regarding the ``No Shipments'' Company

    As discussed at ``Preliminary Determination Regarding the `No 
Shipments' Company'' in the accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum, one company, Jinxiang Infang Fruit & Vegetable Co., Ltd. 
(Infang), timely filed a ``no shipment'' certification stating that it 
had no entries into the United States of subject merchandise during the 
POR. However, the only review request for this company was found to be 
invalid ab initio, therefore, we are rescinding the review with respect 
to Infang.

Preliminary Determination of Separate Rates for Non-Selected Companies

    In accordance with section 777A(c)(2)(B) of the Act, Commerce 
employed a limited examination methodology, as it determined that it 
would not be practicable to individually examine all companies for 
which a review request was made.\10\ There are three exporters of 
subject merchandise from China that have demonstrated their eligibility 
for a separate rate but were not selected for individual examination in 
this review. These three exporters are listed in Appendix IV.
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    \10\ See Memorandum, ``Administrative Review of the Antidumping 
Duty Order on Fresh Garlic from the People's Republic of China: 
2017-2018: Selection of Respondents for Individual Examination,'' 
dated May 30, 2019.
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    Neither the Act nor Commerce's regulations address the 
establishment of the rate applied to individual companies not selected 
for examination where Commerce limited its examination in an 
administrative review pursuant to section 777A(c)(2) of the Act. 
Commerce's practice in cases involving limited selection based on 
exporters accounting for the largest volume of imports has been to look 
to section 735(c)(5) of the Act for guidance, which provides 
instructions for calculating the all-others rate in an investigation. 
Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act instructs Commerce to use rates 
established for individually investigated producers and exporters, 
excluding any rates that are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on 
facts available in investigations. In this administrative review, 
Goodman is the only reviewed respondent that received a weighted-
average margin. Therefore, for the preliminary results, Commerce has 
preliminarily determined to assign Goodman's rate to the non-selected 
separate-rate companies.

Preliminary Results of Administrative Review

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following weighted-
average dumping margins exist for the administrative review covering 
the period November 1, 2017 through October 31, 2018:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                          Exporter                              margin
                                                               (dollars
                                                                per kg)
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Shijiazhuang Goodman Trading Co., Ltd.......................        4.37
Jinxiang Feiteng Import & Export Co., Ltd...................        4.37
Chengwu Yuanxiang Industry & Commerce Co., Ltd..............        4.37
Qingdao Sea-Line International Trading Co., Ltd.............        4.37
China-Wide Entity...........................................        4.71
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure, Public Comment, and Opportunity To Request a Hearing

    Commerce intends to disclose the calculations used in our analyses 
to parties in this review within five days of the date of publication 
of this notice, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted no later 
than seven days after the date on which the final verification report 
is issued in these proceedings and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues 
raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after 
the deadline date for case briefs.\11\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) 
and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this 
proceeding 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\ All electronically filed documents must be received 
successfully in their entirety

[[Page 2402]]

via Commerce's electronic records system, ACCESS, by the date and time 
it is due.
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    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310, any interested party may request a 
hearing within 30 days 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 to be discussed. Oral presentations will be 
limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs. If a party 
requests a hearing, Commerce will inform parties of the scheduled date 
for the hearing which will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 
1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, at a time and 
location to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the 
date, time, and location of the hearing.
    Commerce intends to issue the final results of this review, 
including the results of its analysis of the issues raised in any 
written briefs, not later than 120 days after the date of publication 
of this notice, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.

Assessment Rates

    Upon issuance of the final results, Commerce will determine, and 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, antidumping duties on 
all appropriate entries covered by this review, in accordance with 19 
CFR 351.212(b). For the companies for which this review is rescinded, 
antidumping duties shall be assessed at rates equal to the cash deposit 
of estimated antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or 
withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(c)(l)(i). Commerce will direct CBP to assess rates based on the 
per-unit (i.e., per kg) amount on each entry of the subject merchandise 
during the POR. Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to 
CBP 15 days after the publication date of the final results of review.
    Commerce announced a refinement to its assessment practice in NME 
cases. Pursuant to this refinement in practice, for merchandise that 
was not reported in the U.S. sales databases submitted by an exporter 
individually examined during this review, but that entered under the 
case number of that exporter (i.e., at the individually-examined 
exporter's cash deposit rate), Commerce will instruct CBP to liquidate 
such entries at the China-wide rate. In addition, if Commerce 
determines that an exporter under review had no shipments of the 
subject merchandise, any suspended entries that entered under that 
exporter's case number (i.e., at that exporter's rate) will be 
liquidated at the China-wide rate.\13\
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    \13\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Non-Market 
Economy Antidumping Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 
76 FR 65694 (October 24, 2011).
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Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the final results of this review for shipments of the 
subject merchandise from China entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the publication date, as provided by 
section 751(a)(2) of the Act: (1) For the companies listed above, the 
cash deposit rate will be the rate established in these final results 
of review (except, if the rate is zero or de minimis, then zero cash 
deposit will be required for that company); (2) for previously 
investigated or reviewed Chinese and non-Chinese exporters not listed 
above that 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 which have not been 
found to be entitled to a separate rate, the cash deposit rate will be 
the China-wide rate of $4.71 per kg; 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 the Chinese 
exporter that supplied that non-Chinese exporter. These requirements, 
when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice.

Notification to Importers

    This notice 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 review period. Failure to comply 
with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that 
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

    We are issuing and publishing these preliminary results in 
accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.213(h) and 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: January 8, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Partial Rescission of Administrative Review
V. Preliminary Determination Regarding the ``No Shipments'' Company
VI. Discussion of the Methodology
VII. Normal Value
VIII. Currency Conversion
IX. Recommendation

Appendix II

Companies for Which Administrative Reviews Have Been Rescinded

1. Chengwu County Yuanxiang Industries
2. Jiang Hua Yao Autonomous County Nikko Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
3. Jiangsu Lvhui Food Co., Ltd.
4. Jiangyong Foreign Trade Corp.
5. Lianyungang Xiangjiang Food Co., Ltd.
6. Qingdao Ritai Food Co., Ltd.
7. Tianjin Calgry Import Export
8. Weifang Naike Food Co., Ltd.

Appendix III

Companies for Which Administrative Reviews Have Been Preliminarily 
Rescinded

1. Hebei Golden Bird Trading Co., Ltd.
2. Jining Yongjia Trade Co., Ltd.
3. Jinxiang Changwei Agricultural Products Co., Ltd.
4. Jinxiang Dingyu Agricultural Products Co., Ltd.
5. Jinxiang Fitow Trading Co., Ltd.
6. Jinxiang Guihua Food Co., Ltd.
7. Jinxiang Hejia Co., Ltd.
8. Jinxiang Honghua Foodstuff Co., Ltd.
9. Jinxiang Infang Fruit & Vegetable Co., Ltd.
10. Jinxiang Kingkey Trade Co., Ltd.
11. Jinxiang Wanxing Garlic Products Co. Ltd.
12. Qingdao Doo Won Foods Co., Ltd.
13. Qingdao Joinseafoods Co. Ltd.
14. Shandong Chengwu Longxing Farm Produce & By-Product Co., Ltd.
15. Weifang Hongqiao International Logistics Co., Ltd.
16. Xinjiang Longping Hongan Xiwannian Chili Products Co., Ltd.
17. Yantai Jinyan Trading, Inc.
18. Zhengzhou Harmoni Spice Co., Ltd.
19. Zhengzhou Yudishengjin Farm Products Co., Ltd.

Appendix IV

Non-Selected Separate Rate Companies

1. Jinxiang Feiteng Import & Export Co., Ltd.
2. Qingdao Sea-Line International Trading Co., Ltd.
3. Chengwu Yuanxiang Industry & Commerce Co., Ltd.

[FR Doc. 2020-00492 Filed 1-14-20; 8:45 a.m.]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P