[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