[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 61 (Thursday, April 1, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17122-17124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06730]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-549-833]


Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts From Thailand: Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2019-2020

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that sales of citric acid and certain citrate salts (citric acid) from 
Thailand have not been made at less than normal value (NV) by COFCO 
Biochemical (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (COFCO) or Sunshine Biotech 
International Co., Ltd. (Sunshine) during the period of review (POR) 
July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020. Interested parties are invited to 
comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable April 1, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joy Zhang or Patrick Barton, 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) 482-1168 or (202) 482-8362, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On September 3, 2020, based on timely requests for review, in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), Commerce initiated an 
administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on citric acid 
from Thailand, covering three companies: COFCO, Niran (Thailand) Co., 
Ltd. (Niran), and Sunshine.\1\ Commerce rescinded this review, in part, 
with respect to Niran on February 3, 2021.\2\ For a complete 
description of the events that followed the initiation of this review, 
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\3\
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 85 FR 54983 (September 3, 2020); see also 
Memorandum, ``Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Citric Acid 
and Certain Citrate Salts from Thailand; 2019-2020: Selection of 
Respondents for Individual Examination,'' dated September 17, 2020.
    \2\ See Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts from Thailand: 
Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 2019-
2020, 86 FR 7989 (February 3, 2021).
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Citric Acid and 
Certain Citrate Salts from Thailand; 2019-2020,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order \4\
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    \4\ See Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts from Belgium, 
Colombia, and Thailand: Antidumping Duty Orders, 83 FR 35214 (July 
25, 2018) (Order).
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    The merchandise covered by this order includes all grades and 
granulation sizes of citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium citrate 
in their unblended forms, whether dry or in solution, and regardless of 
packaging type. The scope also includes blends of citric acid, sodium 
citrate, and potassium citrate; as well as blends with other 
ingredients, such as sugar, where the unblended form(s) of citric acid, 
sodium citrate, and potassium citrate constitute 40 percent or more, by 
weight, of the blend.

[[Page 17123]]

    Citric acid and sodium citrate are classifiable under 2918.14.0000 
and 2918.15.1000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS), respectively. Potassium citrate and crude calcium citrate are 
classifiable under 2918.15.5000 and, if included in a mixture or blend, 
3824.99.9295 of the HTSUS. Blends that include citric acid, sodium 
citrate, and potassium citrate are classifiable under 3824.99.9295 of 
the HTSUS. Although the HTSUS sub-headings are provided for convenience 
and customs purposes, the written description of the merchandise is 
dispositive. For a full description of the scope of the Order, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(1)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). We 
calculated export price and constructed export price in accordance with 
section 772 of the Act. We calculated NV in accordance with section 773 
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 attached as an appendix to this notice. 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. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html.

Preliminary Results of the Review

    As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine the 
following weighted-average dumping margins exist for the POR:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
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COFCO Biochemical (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (COFCO)..............        0.00
Sunshine Biotech International Co., Ltd.....................        0.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assessment Rates

    Upon issuance of the final results, Commerce shall determine, and 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, antidumping 
duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review.
    If the weighted-average dumping margin for companies listed above 
are not zero or de minimis (i.e., less than 0.5 percent), we will 
calculate importer-specific ad valorem AD assessment rates based on the 
ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the importer's 
examined sales to the total entered value of those same sales in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).\5\ We will instruct CBP to assess 
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review 
when the importer-specific assessment rate calculated in the final 
results of this review is above de minimis (i.e., 0.5 percent). Where 
either the respondent's weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de 
minimis, or an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de minimis, 
we will instruct CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without 
regard to antidumping duties. The final results of this review shall be 
the basis for the assessment of antidumping duties on entries of 
merchandise covered by the final results of this review and for future 
deposits of estimated duties, where applicable.\6\
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    \5\ In the preliminary results, Commerce applied the assessment 
rate calculation method adopted in Antidumping Proceedings: 
Calculation of the Weighted-Average Dumping Margin and Assessment 
Rate in Certain Antidumping Proceedings; Final Modification, 77 FR 
8101 (February 14, 2012).
    \6\ See section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act.
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    In accordance with Commerce's ``automatic assessment'' practice, 
for entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by each 
respondent which did not know that its merchandise was destined for the 
United States, we will instruct CBP to liquidate entries not reviewed 
at the all-others rate established in the original less-than-fair value 
(LTFV) investigation (i.e., 11.25 percent) if there is no rate for the 
intermediate company(ies) involved in the transaction.
    Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier 
than 35 days after the date of publication of the final results of this 
review in the Federal Register. If a timely summons is filed at the 
U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment instructions will 
direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties 
to file a request for a statutory injunction has expired (i.e., within 
90 days of publication).

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of the notice of final results of administrative review for 
all shipments of citric acid from Thailand entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the 
final results, as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) The 
cash deposit rate for the firms listed above will be equal to the 
dumping margins established in the final results of this review, except 
if the ultimate rates are de minimis within the meaning of 19 CFR 
351.106(c)(1), in which case the cash deposit rates will be zero; (2) 
for merchandise exported by producers or exporters not covered in this 
administrative review but covered in a prior segment of the proceeding, 
the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate 
published for the most recently completed segment of this proceeding in 
which the producer or exporter participated; (3) if the exporter is not 
a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original LTFV 
investigation but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be 
the rate established for the most recently completed segment of the 
proceeding for the producer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash 
deposit rate for all other producers or exporters will continue to be 
11.25 percent, the all-others rate established in the LTFV 
investigation.\7\ These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall 
remain in effect until further notice.
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    \7\ See Order.
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Commerce intends to disclose to the parties to the proceeding the 
calculations performed in connection with these preliminary results to 
interested parties within five days of publication of this notice.\8\
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    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
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    Interested parties may submit case briefs to Commerce in response 
to these preliminary results no later than 30 days after the 
publication of this notice.\9\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues 
raised in the case briefs, may be filed no later than seven days after 
the date for filing case briefs.\10\ 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

[[Page 17124]]

authorities.\11\ Case and rebuttal briefs should be filed using 
ACCESS.\12\ Note that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of its 
requirements for serving documents containing business proprietary 
information, until further notice.\13\
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    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1) and (2); see also Temporary Rule 
Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19, 85 FR 17006 
(March 26, 2020); Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service 
Requirements Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 
41363 (July 10, 2020) (collectively, Temporary Rule).
    \11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2) and 19 CFR 351.303 (for 
general filing requirements).
    \12\ See generally 19 CFR 351.303.
    \13\ See Temporary Rule.
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    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, filed electronically via 
ACCESS. An electronically-filed request for a hearing must be received 
successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 
days after the date of publication of this notice.\14\ Hearing requests 
should contain: (1) The party's name, address, and telephone number; 
(2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of issues to be 
discussed. Issues raised in 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.\15\
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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c); see also 19 CFR 351.303(b)(1).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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    Commerce intends to issue the final results of this administrative 
review, including the results of our analysis of the issues raised in 
any written briefs, not later than 120 days after the date of 
publication of these preliminary results in the Federal Register, 
unless otherwise extended.\16\
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    \16\ See section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.
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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 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 doubled antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

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

    Dated: March 25, 2021.
Christian Marsh,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Order
IV. Discussion of the Methodology
V. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2021-06730 Filed 3-31-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P