[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 107 (Friday, June 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33715-33717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11941]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-580-898]


Large Diameter Welded Pipe From the Republic of Korea: 
Preliminary Results and Partial Rescission of the Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; 2020

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of large diameter welded pipe (welded pipe) 
from the Republic of Korea (Korea). The period of review (POR) is 
January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.

DATES: Applicable June 3, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis McClure or Jonathan Schueler, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office VIII, Enforcement and Compliance, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5973 
or (202) 482-9175, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On May 28, and June 1 and 3, 2021, we received multiple requests 
for an administrative review \1\ of the countervailing duty (CVD) order 
on welded pipe from Korea.\2\ On July 6, 2021, Commerce published a 
notice of initiation of an administrative review of the Order.\3\ On 
July 29, 2021, Commerce selected Hyundai RB Co., Ltd. (Hyundai RB) and 
SeAH Steel Corporation (SeAH Steel) as the mandatory respondents in 
this administrative review.\4\ On January 4, 2022, Commerce extended 
the deadline for the preliminary results of this review to no later 
than May 31, 2022.\5\
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    \1\ See Hyundai RB Co., Ltd.'s Letter, ``Request for 
Administrative Review,'' dated May 28, 2021; see also SeAH Steel 
Corporation's Letter, ``Request for Administrative Review,'' dated 
June 1, 2021; Hyundai Steel's Letter, ``Request for Administrative 
Review,'' dated June 1, 2021; Domestic Interested Party's Letter, 
``Request for Administrative Review,'' dated June 1, 2021; and 
Hyundai Steel Company's and Husteel Co., Ltd.'s Letter, ``Request 
for Administrative Review,'' dated June 3, 2021. The domestic 
interested party is The American Line Pipe Producers Association 
Trade Committee.
    \2\ See Large Diameter Welded Pipe from the Republic of Korea: 
Countervailing Duty Order, 84 FR 18773 (May 2, 2019) (Order).
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 86 FR 35481 (July 6, 2021) (Initiation 
Notice).
    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Respondent Selection,'' dated July 29, 
2021.
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2020,'' dated 
January 4, 2022.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\ 
A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 
included at the 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 https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.
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    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results and Partial Rescission of the Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; 2020: Large Diameter Welded Pipe from the 
Republic of Korea,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, 
this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order

    The merchandise covered by the Order is welded pipe. For a complete 
description of the scope of the Order, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.

Final Rescission of Administrative Review

    As noted in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, the domestic 
interested party timely withdrew their requests for administrative 
review with respect to EM Solution Co., Ltd.; Hansol Metal Co., Ltd.; 
Hawin; Hyosung; and POSCO.\7\ No other parties requested a review of 
these companies. On February 23, 2022, Commerce notified interested 
parties that we intended to rescind this administrative review of the 
companies named above and the following companies in the absence of 
suspended entries during the POR: (1) AJU Besteel Co., Ltd.; (2) 
Daiduck Piping Co., Ltd.; (3) Dongbu Incheon Steel Co., Ltd.; (4) EEW 
KHPC Co., Ltd.; (5) Husteel Co., Ltd.; \8\ (6) Hyundai Steel; (7) 
Hyundai Steel Co., Ltd.; (8) Hyundai Steel Company; \9\ (9) Kiduck 
Industries Co., Ltd.; (10) Kum Kang Kind. Co., Ltd.; (11) Kumsoo 
Connecting Co., Ltd.; (12) Nexteel Co., Ltd.; (13) Samkang M&T Co., 
Ltd.; (14) SeAH Steel, Co., Ltd.; (15) Seonghwa Industrial Co., Ltd.; 
(16) SIN-E B&P Co., Ltd.; (17) Steel Flower Co., Ltd.; and (18) WELTECH 
Co., Ltd.\10\ No parties commented on the notification of intent to 
rescind the review of the 23 companies named above. Therefore, we 
determine that there were no entries of subject merchandise during the 
POR by these companies. As a result, we are rescinding this review, in 
part, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1) and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3) with 
respect to the 23 companies listed above.
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    \7\ See Domestic Interested Party's Letter, ``Partial Withdrawal 
of Request for Administrative Review,'' dated October 4, 2021.
    \8\ As stated in the Initiation Notice, subject merchandise both 
produced and exported by Husteel Co., Ltd. (Husteel) is excluded 
from the CVD order. Thus, Husteel's inclusion in this administrative 
review is limited to entries for which Husteel was the producer or 
exporter of the subject merchandise, but not both the producer and 
exporter.
    \9\ As stated in the Initiation Notice, subject merchandise both 
produced and exported by Hyundai Steel Company (Hyundai Steel) and 
subject merchandise produced by Hyundai Steel and exported by 
Hyundai Corporation are excluded from the CVD order. Thus, Hyundai 
Steel's inclusion in this administrative review is limited to 
entries for which Hyundai Steel was not the producer and exporter of 
the subject merchandise and for which Hyundai Steel was not the 
producer and Hyundai Corporation was not the exporter of subject 
merchandise.
    \10\ See Memorandum, ``Notice of Intent to Rescind Review, In 
Part,'' dated February 11, 2022.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(l)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each 
of the subsidy programs found countervailable, we preliminarily 
determine that there is a subsidy, i.e., a government-provided 
financial contribution that confers a benefit to the recipient, and 
that the subsidy is specific.\11\ For a full

[[Page 33716]]

description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \11\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding 
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding 
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
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Companies Not Selected for Individual Review

    The statute and Commerce's regulations do not directly address the 
CVD rates to be applied to companies not selected for individual 
examination where Commerce limited its examination in an administrative 
review pursuant to section 777A(e)(2) of the Act. However, Commerce 
normally determines the rates for non-selected companies in reviews in 
a manner that is consistent with section 705(c)(5) of the Act, which 
provides instructions for calculating the all-others rate in an 
investigation. Section 777A(e)(2) of the Act provides that ``the 
individual countervailable subsidy rates determined under subparagraph 
(A) shall be used to determine the all-others rate under section 
705(c)(5) {of the Act{time} .'' Section 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act states 
that for companies not investigated, in general, we will determine an 
all-others rate by weight-averaging the countervailable subsidy rates 
established for each of the companies individually investigated, 
excluding zero and de minimis rates or any rates based solely on the 
facts available.
    In this review, we preliminarily determine that only Hyundai RB 
received countervailable subsidies at a rate above de minimis. 
Therefore, we are preliminarily applying the net subsidy rate 
calculated for Hyundai RB to the non-selected companies.

Preliminary Results of the Review

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(i), we calculated an 
individual net countervailable subsidy rate for Hyundai RB and SeAH. 
Commerce preliminarily determines that, during the POR, the net 
countervailable subsidy rates for the producers/exporters under review 
are as follows:
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    \12\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with 
SeAH Steel Corporation: SeAH Holdings Corporation and ESAB SeAH 
Corporation. The subsidy rates apply to all cross-owned companies.
    \13\ This rate is based on the rates for the respondents that 
were selected for individual review, excluding rates that are zero, 
de minimis, or based entirely on facts available. See section 
735(c)(5)(A) of the Act.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            Subsidy rate  (percent ad
           Producer/exporter                        valorem)
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Hyundai RB Co., Ltd...................  1.66
SeAH Steel Corporation \12\...........  0.31 (de minimis)
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 Review-Specific Average Rate Applicable to the Following Companies \13\
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Chang Won Bending Co., Ltd............  1.66
Dong Yang Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.........  1.66
EEW Korea Co., Ltd....................  1.66
Histeel Co., Ltd......................  1.66
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    We intend to disclose to parties to this proceeding the 
calculations performed in reaching the preliminary results within five 
days of the date of publication of this notice.\14\ Interested parties 
may submit case briefs no later than 30 days after the date of 
publication of these preliminary results.\15\ Rebuttal briefs, limited 
to issues raised in case briefs, may be filed no later than seven days 
after the date for filing case briefs.\16\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit arguments are requested to 
submit with the argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief 
summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.
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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii).
    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1); see also See Temporary Rule 
Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19; Extension of 
Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 10, 2020) (Temporary Rule).
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a 
written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, using Enforcement and 
Compliance's ACCESS system within 30 days of publication of this 
notice.\17\ 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 
those raised in the respective case and rebuttal briefs. If a request 
for a hearing is made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a time 
and date to be determined. Parties should confirm the date and time of 
the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
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    \17\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    Parties are reminded that all briefs and hearing requests must be 
filed electronically using ACCESS and received successfully in their 
entirety by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Note that Commerce 
has temporarily modified certain of its requirements for serving 
documents containing business proprietary information, until further 
notice.\18\
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    \18\ See Temporary Rule.
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    Unless the deadline is extended pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(2), Commerce intends to issue the final 
results of this administrative review, including the results of our 
analysis of the issues raised by the parties in any written briefs, no 
later than 120 days after the date of publication of these preliminary 
results.

Assessment Rates

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(i), we preliminarily 
assigned subsidy rates in the amounts shown above for the producers/
exporters shown above. Upon completion of the administrative review, 
consistent with section 751(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.212(b)(2), 
Commerce shall determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 
shall assess, CVDs on all appropriate entries covered by this review. 
For the companies for which this review is rescinded, we will instruct 
CBP to assess CVDs on all appropriate entries at a rate equal to the 
cash deposit of estimated CVDs required at the time of entry, or 
withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, during the period January 
1, 2020, through December 31, 2020, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(c)(l)(i). We intend to issue assessment instructions to CBP for 
these companies no earlier than 35 days after the date of publication 
of the preliminary results of this review in the Federal Register.
    For the companies remaining in the review, we intend 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 Rate

    In accordance with section 751(a)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends, 
upon publication of the final results, to instruct CBP to collect cash 
deposits of estimated CVDs in the amounts calculated in the final 
results of this review for each of the reviewed companies listed above 
on shipments of subject merchandise entered, or

[[Page 33717]]

withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of the final results of this review. For all non-reviewed 
firms, we will instruct CBP to continue to collect cash deposits of 
estimated CVDs at the all-others rate as established in the Order 
(i.e., 9.29 percent) \19\ or the most recent company-specific rate 
applicable to the company, as appropriate. These cash deposit 
instructions, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further 
notice.
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    \19\ See Order at 84 FR 18775.
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Notification to Interested Parties

    These preliminary results of review are issued and published 
pursuant to sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.213 and 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: May 27, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
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. Period of Review
V. Partial Rescission of Administrative Review
VI. Diversification of Korea's Economy
VII. Subsidies Valuation Information
VIII. Benchmarks and Interest Rates
IX. Analysis of Programs
X. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2022-11941 Filed 6-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P