[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 169 (Friday, September 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49512-49514]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19065]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-985]
Xanthan Gum From the People's Republic of China: Amended
Preliminary Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review;
2017-2018
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds that
Neimenggu Fufeng Biotechnologies Co., Ltd. (aka Inner Mongolia Fufeng
Biotechnologies Co., Ltd.)/Shandong Fufeng Fermentation Co., Ltd./
Xinjiang Fufeng Biotechnologies Co., Ltd. (collectively, Fufeng) is
eligible for separate rate status. The period of review (POR) is July
1, 2017, through June 30, 2018. Interested parties are invited to
comment on these amended preliminary results.
DATES: Applicable September 3, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aleksandras Nakutis or Thomas Hanna,
AD/CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3147 or (202)
482-0835, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Pursuant to a series of remand orders and the Court of
International Trade's (CIT) final judgment regarding the underlying
less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation, Commerce amended its final
determination and prior amended final determination in the
investigation and amended the Order by excluding merchandise produced
and exported by Fufeng from the Order.\1\ Given this
[[Page 49513]]
exclusion, Commerce discontinued this review with respect to, and did
not issue preliminary or final results of review for, Fufeng while
awaiting the outcome of the appeals process.\2\ On February 10, 2020,
the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed the CIT's
decision that resulted in the exclusion of Fufeng from the Order.\3\
Accordingly, Commerce issued a third amended final determination in the
LTFV investigation of xanthan gum from China, in which it found Fufeng
subject to the Order and announced its intention to resume the instant
review of Fufeng.\4\ Commerce is now amending the preliminary results
of this administrative review by completing the administrative review
with respect to Fufeng.
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\1\ See Xanthan Gum from the People's Republic of China: Amended
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Antidumping
Duty Order, 78 FR 43143 (July 19, 2013) (Order); see also CP Kelco
US, Inc. v. United States, Ct. No. 13-00288, Slip Op. 15-27 (CIT
March 31, 2015); CP Kelco US, Inc. v. United States, Ct. No. 13-
00288, Slip Op. 16-36 (CIT April 8, 2016); CP Kelco US, Inc. v.
United States, 211 F. Supp. 3d 1338 (CIT 2017); CP Kelco US, Inc. v.
United States, Ct. No. 13-00288, Slip Op. 18-36 (CIT April 5, 2018);
CP Kelco US, Inc. v. United States, Ct. No. 13-00288, Slip Op. 18-
120 (CIT September 17, 2018); and Xanthan Gum From the People's
Republic of China: Notice of Court Decision Not in Harmony With
Amended Final Determination in Less Than Fair Value Investigation;
Notice of Amended Final Determination Pursuant to Court Decision;
Notice of Revocation of Antidumping Duty Order in Part; and
Discontinuation of Fourth and Fifth Antidumping Duty Administrative
Reviews in Part, 83 FR 52205 (October 16, 2018) (Discontinuation and
Partial Revocation).
\2\ See Discontinuation and Partial Revocation at 52206; see
also Xanthan Gum from the People's Republic of China: Preliminary
Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, and
Preliminary Determination of No Shipments; 2017-2018, 84 FR 26813
(June 10, 2019) (Preliminary Results) and accompanying Preliminary
Decision Memorandum (June 2019 Preliminary Decision Memorandum) and
Xanthan Gum from the People's Republic of China: Final Results of
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Final Determination of No
Shipments; 2017-2018, 84 FR 64831 (November 25, 2019) (Final
Results) and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum.
\3\ See CP Kelco US, Inc. v. United States, Neimenggu Fufeng
Biotechnologies Co., Ltd., Shandong Fufeng Fermentation Co., Ltd.,
949 F.3d 1348 (Fed. Cir. 2020).
\4\ See Xanthan Gum from the People's Republic of China: Notice
of Third Amended Final Determination Pursuant to Court Decision, 85
FR 40967 (July 8, 2020) (Third Amended Determination).
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In the Third Amended Final Determination, Commerce explained that:
. . . because we already selected mandatory respondents, other than
Fufeng, and issued final results with respect to those respondents,
we will analyze Fufeng's separate rate certification and issue
preliminary results regarding Fufeng's separate rate status. We will
set a briefing period to allow interested parties to comment on our
separate rates determination for Fufeng before issuing the final
results of review with respect to Fufeng.\5\
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\5\ Id. at 40969.
Accordingly, we have addressed Fufeng's separate rate status below.
Scope of the Order
The product covered by the Order is dry xanthan gum, whether or not
coated or blended with other products, from China (xanthan gum).\6\
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\6\ For a complete description of the scope of the Order, see
Memorandum, ``Xanthan Gum from the People's Republic of China:
Decision Memorandum for the Amended Preliminary Results of the 2017-
2018 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review'' (Preliminary Decision
Memorandum).
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Separate Rate Status
Based on the criteria established by Sparklers \7\ and Silicon
Carbide,\8\ Commerce preliminarily determines that the information
placed on the record by Fufeng demonstrates an absence of de jure and
de facto government control over its export activities. Therefore, we
have preliminarily granted Fufeng separate rate status. For details
regarding our analysis, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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\7\ See Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:
Sparklers from the People's Republic of China, 56 FR 20588 (May 6,
1991) (Sparklers).
\8\ See Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value: Silicon Carbide from the People's Republic of China, 59 FR
22585 (May 2, 1994) (Silicon Carbide).
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Dumping Margin for Non-Individually Examined Respondents Granted
Separate Rate Status
The statute and Commerce's regulations do not identify the dumping
margin to apply to respondents that are eligible for a separate rate in
a non-market economy antidumping duty administrative review that were
not selected for individual examination. Generally, Commerce looks to
section 735(c)(5) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act),
which provides instructions for calculating the all-others rate in a
market economy antidumping duty investigation, for guidance when
determining the dumping margin for respondents that were not
individually examined that qualify for a separate rate. Section
735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that the all-others rate should be
calculated by averaging the weighted-average dumping margins determined
for individually examined respondents, excluding dumping margins that
are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts available. Where the
dumping margins for the individually examined respondents are all zero,
de minimis, or based entirely on facts available, section 735(c)(5)(B)
of the Act provides that Commerce may use ``any reasonable method'' to
establish the all others rate. The dumping margins for both of the
individually examined respondents in this review are zero. Therefore,
consistent with the dumping margin assigned to the other non-
individually examined separate rate recipients in the Final Results of
this review, we are preliminarily assigning a dumping margin of zero
percent to Fufeng.\9\
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\9\ See Final Results at 64832.
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Disclosure and Public Comment
Because Commerce did not calculate a weighted-average dumping
margin for Fufeng, there are no calculations to disclose to interested
parties.
Interested parties are invited to comment on these amended
preliminary results of review. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii),
interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 21 days after
the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.\10\
Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be
filed no later than seven days after the deadline for filing case
briefs.\11\ Parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs should
submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief
summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.\12\ Executive
summaries should be limited to five pages total, including
footnotes.\13\ Case and rebuttal briefs should be filed using
Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS).\14\ Note that Commerce
has temporarily modified certain of its requirements for serving
documents containing business proprietary information until further
notice.\15\
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\10\ Commerce has exercised its discretion under 19 CFR
351.309(c)(1)(ii) to alter the time limit for submission of case
briefs.
\11\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1); see also Temporary Rule Modifying
AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective
Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 10, 2020) (Temporary Rule).
\12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
\13\ Id.
\14\ See 19 CFR 351.303.
\15\ See Temporary Rule.
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Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), any interested party may request a
hearing within 21 days of the date of publication of this notice in the
Federal Register.\16\ 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, by the
deadline noted above. If a hearing is requested, Commerce will notify
interested parties of the hearing date and time. Requests for a hearing
should contain: (1) The requesting party's name, address, and telephone
number; (2) the number of individuals from the requesting party's firm
that will attend the hearing; and (3) a list of the issues the party
intends to discuss at the hearing. Issues raised in the hearing are
limited to those issues raised in the party's case and rebuttal briefs.
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\16\ Commerce has exercised its discretion under 19 CFR
351.310(c) to alter the time limit for requesting a hearing.
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Unless we extend the deadline for the amended final results of this
review, we intend to issue the amended final results of this
administrative review, including the results of our analysis of
[[Page 49514]]
issues raised by the parties in their briefs, within 120 days of the
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.\17\
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\17\ See section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act; and 19 CFR
351.213(h)(1).
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Assessment Rates
Upon issuance of the amended final results of review, Commerce will
determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate
entries covered by the amended final results of review.\18\ Commerce
intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier than 35 days
after the date of publication of the amended final results of this
review in the Federal Register.\19\ 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).
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\18\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
\19\ See Notice of Discontinuation of Policy to Issue
Liquidation Instructions After 15 Days in Applicable Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Administrative Proceedings, 86 FR 3995 (January
15, 2021).
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Cash Deposit Requirements
The cash deposit rate for Fufeng will be equal to the dumping
margin established for Fufeng in the amended final results of this
review (if the dumping margin is zero or de minimis, then a cash
deposit rate of zero will be required). For information regarding the
cash deposit requirements established for other companies in this
segment of the proceeding, see the Final Results.
This cash deposit requirement, 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) to file a certificate
regarding the reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing 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 and/or countervailing
duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping
duties.
Notification to Interest Parties
These amended preliminary results of administrative review are
issued and published in accordance with sections 751(a)(l) and
777(i)(l) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).
Dated: August 30, 2021.
James Maeder,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Operations.
[FR Doc. 2021-19065 Filed 9-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P