[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 88 (Wednesday, May 6, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26924-26926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09677]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-484-803]


Large Diameter Welded Pipe From Greece: Preliminary Results of 
Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review

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


[[Page 26925]]


SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is issuing the 
preliminary results of the changed circumstances review (CCR) of the 
antidumping duty (AD) order on large diameter welded pipe from Greece.

DATES: Applicable May 6, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brittany Bauer, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3860.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On February 21, 2020, in response to a request by Corinth Pipeworks 
Pipe Industry S.A. (Corinth), a Greek producer of large diameter welded 
pipe (welded pipe), Commerce published a notice of initiation of a 
changed circumstances review to partially revoke the antidumping duty 
order on welded pipe from Greece.\1\ The specific types of large 
diameter welded pipe which are under consideration for partial 
revocation are described in the Attachment to this notice. In the 
Initiation Notice, we requested comments from interested parties.\2\ In 
March 2020, we received comments from Corinth \3\ and the domestic 
producers,\4\ and rebuttal comments from Corinth.\5\ On April 9, 2020, 
we spoke with the domestic producers regarding both this CCR and the 
CCRs of welded pipe from India.\6\
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    \1\ See Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece: Initiation of 
Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review, 85 FR 10150 (February 
21, 2020) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 10151.
    \3\ See Corinth's Letter, ``Changed Circumstances Review of 
Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece--Corinth Pipeworks' Comments 
and New Factual Information for Changed Circumstances Review,'' 
dated March 6, 2020 (Corinth's Comments); and Domestic Producers' 
Letter, ``Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece: Comments on 
Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review,'' dated March 6, 2020 
(refiled with amended bracketing on March 13, 2020) (Domestic 
Producers' Comments).
    \4\ The domestic producers are American Cast Iron Pipe Company; 
Berg Steel Pipe Corp./Berg Spiral Pipe Corp.; Dura-Bond Industries; 
Stupp Corporation; (individually and as members of the American Line 
Pipe Producers Association); Greens Bayou Pipe Mill, LP; JSW Steel 
(USA) Inc.; Skyline Steel; and Trinity Products LLC (collectively 
the petitioners in the less-than-fair-value investigation) and 
Welspun Global Trade LLC.
    \5\ See Corinth's Letter, ``Changed Circumstances Review of 
Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece--Corinth Pipeworks' Rebuttal 
Comments,'' dated March 20, 2020 (Corinth's Rebuttal Comments).
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``AD Order on Large Diameter Welded Pipe 
from Greece; AD and CVD Orders on Large Diameter Welded Pipe from 
India--Ex Parte Memorandum,'' dated April 14, 2020.
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by this order is welded carbon and alloy 
steel line pipe (other than stainless steel pipe), more than 406.4 mm 
(16 inches) in nominal outside diameter (large diameter welded line 
pipe), regardless of wall thickness, length, surface finish, grade, end 
finish, or stenciling. Large diameter welded pipe may be used to 
transport oil, gas, slurry, steam, or other fluids, liquids, or gases.
    Large diameter welded line pipe is used to transport oil, gas, or 
natural gas liquids and is normally produced to the American Petroleum 
Institute (API) specification 5L. Large diameter welded line pipe can 
be produced to comparable foreign specifications, grades and/or 
standards or to proprietary specifications, grades and/or standards, or 
can be non-graded material. All line pipe meeting the physical 
description set forth above, including any dual- or multiple-certified/
stenciled pipe with an API (or comparable) welded line pipe 
certification/stencil, is covered by the scope of the orders.
    Subject merchandise also includes large diameter welded line pipe 
that has been further processed in a third country, including but not 
limited to coating, painting, notching, beveling, cutting, punching, 
welding, or any other processing that would not otherwise remove the 
merchandise from the scope of the order if performed in the country of 
manufacture of the in-scope large diameter welded line pipe.
    Excluded from the scope of the order is structural pipe, which is 
produced only to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) 
standards A500, A252, or A53, or other relevant domestic 
specifications, or comparable foreign specifications, grades and/or 
standards or to proprietary specifications, grades and/or standards. 
Also excluded is large diameter welded pipe produced only to 
specifications of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for water 
and sewage pipe.
    The large diameter welded line pipe that is subject to the order is 
currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States (HTSUS) under subheadings 7305.11.1030, 7305.11.1060, 
7305.11.5000, 7305.12.1030, 7305.12.1060, 7305.12.5000, 7305.19.1030, 
7305.19.1060, and 7305.19.5000. Merchandise currently classifiable 
under subheadings 7305.31.4000, 7305.31.6090, 7305.39.1000 and 
7305.39.5000 and that otherwise meets the above scope language is also 
covered. While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes, the written description of the scope of the order is 
dispositive.

Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances Review

    In this changed circumstances review, pursuant to section 751(b) of 
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), Commerce is considering 
the partial revocation of the order on welded pipe from Greece. The 
Greek welded pipe producer Corinth requested a changed circumstances 
review following the initiation and preliminary partial revocation of 
the antidumping and countervailing (CVD) duty orders on large diameter 
welded pipe from India.\7\ In its request, Corinth included the public 
version of the domestic producers' request to initiate the Indian CCRs. 
In the Indian CCR requests, the ten domestic producers filing the 
request assert that they account for ``substantially all'' \8\ of the 
domestic production of large diameter welded pipe.\9\ In the Initiation 
Notice for the Greek CCR, we requested comments related to the 
applicability of the ``no interest'' statement in the Indian CCR 
request to the Greek CCR. In response, we received a submission from 
the domestic producers in which they stated the following: ``{the 
domestic producers{time}  confirm the comments made in the CCR of the 
antidumping and countervailing duty orders of LDWP from India.'' \10\
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    \7\ See Corinth's Letter, ``Large Diameter Welded Pipe from 
Greece: Request for Changed Circumstances Review and Revocation, In 
Part,'' dated January 3, 2020 (Corinth CCR Request); and Large 
Diameter Welded Pipe from India: Initiation and Expedited 
Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty 
Changed Circumstances Reviews, 84 FR 69356 (December 18, 2019) 
(Indian CCR Initiation and Prelim).
    \8\ Commerce has interpreted ``substantially all'' to mean at 
least 85 percent of the total production of the domestic like 
product covered by the order. See, e.g., Supercalendered Paper from 
Canada: Final Results of Changed Circumstances Review and Revocation 
of Countervailing Duty Order, 83 FR 32268 (July 12, 2018).
    \9\ See Corinth CCR Request, at Exhibit 2 and Indian CCR 
Initiation and Prelim, 84 FR at 69357.
    \10\ See Domestic Producers' Comments, at 2.
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    We find that: (1) The ten domestic producers' statement of no 
interest in the AD and CVD orders with respect to certain specific 
large diameter welded pipe products from India; (2) the domestic 
producers' statement that they do not currently produce the particular 
large diameter welded pipe products subject to this CCR request; \11\ 
(3) the domestic producers' statement that the investment needed for 
the industry to

[[Page 26926]]

produce these products far exceeds the potential benefit of such an 
investment, given that the U.S. market for deep offshore projects, 
i.e., the primary market for the large diameter welded pipe product 
groups at issue is relatively small; \12\ and (4) the domestic 
industry's support for excluding the pipe products at issue from the 
Greek order, in the event that Commerce determines to treat all three 
orders equally, all support a preliminary finding to exclude the 
specified products from the AD order on large diameter welded pipe from 
Greece.
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    \11\ See Corinth CCR Request, at Exhibits 1 (at 84 FR 69357), 2 
(at internal page numbers 4 and 8), and 4 (at internal page numbers 
9-10).
    \12\ See Corinth CCR Request at 6 and Exhibits 2 (at internal 
page number 4) and Exhibit 4 (at internal page number 10).
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    In its comments on the initiation of this review, Corinth argued 
that: (1) The domestic industry has expressed a lack of interest in 
these products; (2) no party objected to the Section 232 exclusion 
requests for these same products; and (3) Corinth currently produces 
these varieties of welded pipe.\13\ In response, the domestic producers 
stated that, while the partial revocation of the Indian orders would 
convey a benefit to the domestic producers, it did not believe that a 
similar domestic benefit would be conferred by the exclusion of the 
same products from Greek order.\14\
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    \13\ See Corinth's Comments at 3-5 and Exhibits 2, 3, and 4.
    \14\ See Domestic Producers' Comments at 2.
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    In its rebuttal comments, Corinth argues that ``domestic benefit'' 
is not a consideration in the law, regulation, or practice of CCRs.\15\ 
Corinth argues that the relevant factors are: (1) The domestic 
industry's statement of no interest in its request for CCRs of Indian 
welded pipe; (2) the fact that the domestic industry does not produce 
these varieties of welded pipe; (3) the fact that the domestic industry 
has no intention of producing these varieties of pipe, because the 
investment needed outweighs any economic benefits due to the small size 
of market for these types of welded pipe; and (4) ten domestic 
producers, who account for at least 85 percent of domestic production 
of welded pipe, supported the statement of no interest.\16\ Further, 
Corinth pointed out that in the Indian proceedings, the domestic 
producers inaccurately stated that only India, Brazil, and Germany 
produce the specified welded pipe in meaningful quantities.\17\
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    \15\ See Corinth's Rebuttal Comments at 2-3.
    \16\ See Corinth's Rebuttal Comments at 3.
    \17\ Id. at 4.
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    Corinth also argues that the domestic producers are incorrect in 
their assertion that an exclusion for any other country subject to the 
orders is unnecessary.\18\ The domestic producers did not rebut 
Corinth's comments.
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    \18\ Id. at 4-6.
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    While the direct statement of no interest from the domestic 
producers is from the Indian welded pipe CCRs, the domestic producers 
have stated that these varieties of welded pipe are not produced 
domestically and that there are no plans to undertake the investments 
needed to produce these varieties of welded pipe.\19\ Further, there is 
no evidence that harm is done to the domestic industry only by imports 
of Greek welded pipe and not by Indian welded pipe. Accordingly, we 
find that the domestic producers' statements are equally applicable to 
the CCRs for both countries, as the lack of domestic production or 
planned domestic production is true regardless of the foreign country 
of production.
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    \19\ See Corinth CCR Request, at 6 and Exhibits 1 (at 84 FR 
69357), 2 (at internal page numbers 4 and 8), and 4 (at internal 
page numbers 9-10).
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    Therefore, in the absence of an objection by any other interested 
parties, and based upon the four factual factors listed above, we 
preliminarily find excluding those products from the Greek and Indian 
Orders to be equally appropriate. Thus, we preliminarily determine that 
substantially all of the domestic producers of the like product have no 
interest in the continued application, in part, of the AD order on the 
same types of large diameter welded pipe from Greece. Accordingly, we 
are notifying the public of our intent to revoke, in part, the AD order 
as it relates to certain specific large diameter welded pipe products. 
We intend to change the scope of the AD order on large diameter welded 
pipe from Greece by adding the exclusion language provided in the 
Attachment to this notice.

Public Comment

    Interested parties may submit case briefs not later than 14 days 
after the date of publication of this notice.\20\ Rebuttal briefs, 
which must be limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be filed not 
later than seven days after the due date for case briefs.\21\ All 
submissions must be filed electronically using Enforcement and 
Compliance's AD and CVD Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). 
ACCESS is available to registered users at http://access.trade.gov. An 
electronically filed document must be received successfully in its 
entirety in ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date set forth 
in this notice. Note that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of 
its requirements for serving documents containing business proprietary 
information, until May 19, 2020, unless extended.\22\
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    \20\ Commerce is exercising its discretion under 19 CFR 
351.309(c)(1)(ii) to alter the time limit for filing of case briefs.
    \21\ Commerce is exercising its discretion under 19 CFR 
351.309(d)(1) to alter the time limit for filing of rebuttal briefs.
    \22\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19, 85 FR 17006 (March 26, 2020).
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    An interested party may request a hearing within 14 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 at the hearing will be limited to 
issues raised in the briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, 
Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a date and time to be 
determined.\23\ Parties should confirm the date, time, and location of 
the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
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    \23\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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    Unless extended, consistent with 19 CFR 351.216(e), we intend to 
issue the final results of these CCRs no later than 270 days after the 
date on which these reviews were initiated, or within 45 days of that 
date if all parties agree to the outcome of the reviews.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This notice is published in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and 
777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(c)(3).

    Dated: April 30, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Attachment

Proposed Revision to the Scope of the Order

    Excluded from the scope of the antidumping duty Order are large 
diameter welded pipe products in the following combinations of 
grades, outside diameters, and wall thicknesses:
     Grade X60, X65, or X70, 18'' outside diameter, 0.688'' 
or greater wall thickness;
     Grade X60, X65, or X70, 20'' outside diameter, 0.688'' 
or greater wall thickness;
     Grade X60, X65, X70, or X80, 22'' outside diameter, 
0.750'' or greater wall thickness; and
     Grade X60, X65, or X70, 24'' outside diameter, 0.750'' 
or greater wall thickness.

[FR Doc. 2020-09677 Filed 5-5-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P