[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 193 (Thursday, October 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60653-60656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21803]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-580-882]


Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products From the Republic of 
Korea: Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Review, 2020

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that certain producers/exporters of certain cold-rolled 
steel flat products (cold-rolled steel) from the Republic of Korea 
(Korea) received countervailable subsidies during the period of review 
(POR) January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020, while other 
producers/exporters (i.e., Hyundai Steel Co., Ltd., also referred to as 
Hyundai Steel Company (Hyundai Steel) and POSCO) received de minimis 
net countervailable subsidies during the POR. Interested parties are 
invited to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable October 6, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tyler Weinhold or Harrison Tanchuck, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1121 and (202) 
482-7421, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On November 5, 2021, Commerce published a notice of initiation of 
administrative review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on cold-
rolled steel from Korea.\1\ On December 1, 2021, Commerce selected 
Hyundai Steel and POSCO as mandatory respondents in this administrative 
review.\2\ On April 12, 2022, Commerce extended the deadline

[[Page 60654]]

for the preliminary results of this review.\3\
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 86 FR 61121 (November 5, 2021).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Countervailing Duty Administrative Review 
of Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the Republic of Korea: 
Selection of Respondents,'' dated December 1, 2021. The petitioners 
requested a review of ``Hyundai Steel Co., Ltd.,'' while Hyundai 
Steel requested a review of ``Hyundai Steel Company.'' We selected 
Hyundai Steel Co., Ltd., also referred to as Hyundai Steel Company 
as a mandatory respondent, based on the entry volume of exports of 
subject merchandise during the POR. We combined the entry quantities 
of Hyundai Steel Co., Ltd., based on the company specific case 
number which appears in the CBP data.
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products 
from the Republic of Korea: Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2020,'' dated 
April 12, 2022.
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\4\ 
A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is 
included at Appendix I 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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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2020: 
Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products 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 cold-rolled steel. For a 
complete description of the scope of the order, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.

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 financial contribution from 
an authority that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that 
the subsidy is specific.\5\ For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \5\ 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 limits 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.
    Accordingly, to determine the rate for companies not selected for 
individual examination, Commerce's practice is to weight average the 
net subsidy rates for the selected mandatory companies, excluding rates 
that are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts available.\6\ In 
this review, we preliminarily calculated de minimis subsidy rates for 
each of the mandatory respondents (i.e., Hyundai Steel and POSCO) 
during the POR. In CVD proceedings where the number of respondents 
being individually examined has been limited, Commerce has determined 
that a ``reasonable method'' to use to determine the rate applicable to 
companies that were not individually examined when all the rates of 
selected mandatory respondents are zero or de minimis or based entirely 
on facts available, is to assign to the non-selected respondents the 
average of the most recently determined rates for the mandatory 
respondents (i.e., Hyundai Steel and POSCO) that are not zero, de 
minimis, or based entirely on facts available.\7\ However, where a non-
selected respondent has its own calculated rate in a prior segment of 
the proceeding, Commerce has found it appropriate to apply the prior 
rate that represents the most recently calculated rate for that 
respondent, unless Commerce determines that prior rate to be obsolete . 
. .\8\
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    \6\ See, e.g., Certain Pasta from Italy: Final Results of the 
13th (2008) Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 75 FR 37386, 
37387 (June 29, 2010).
    \7\ See, e.g., Circular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes from 
Turkey: Final Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 
Calendar Year 2012 and Rescission of Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review, in Part, 79 FR 51140, 51141 (August 27, 
2014); and Cut-to-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate from the 
Republic of Korea: Final Results of Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; 2012, 79 FR 46770 (August 11, 2014), and 
accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum (IDM), at ``Non-Selected 
Rate''; and Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar from the Republic of 
Turkey: Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative 
Review and Intent To Rescind the Review in Part; 2017, 85 FR 3030 
(January 17, 2020), and accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum, at ``Non-Selected Rate,'' unchanged in Steel Concrete 
Reinforcing Bar from the Republic of Turkey: Final Results and 
Partial Rescission of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 
2017, 85 FR 42353 (July 14, 2020), and accompanying IDM, at ``Non-
Selected Rate.''
    \8\ Id.
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    We have determined that it is appropriate to assign to the 
companies subject to the review, but not selected for individual 
examination, the weighted average of the most recently calculated 
countervailable subsidy rates that are not zero or de minimis rates, or 
based solely on facts available from the prior review (i.e., CRS Third 
Admin Review Final Results), i.e., 1.93 percent.\9\ Dongbu Steel Co., 
Ltd. and Dongbu Incheon Steel Co., Ltd. are non-selected respondents 
for whom Commerce calculated a countervailable subsidy in the CRS Third 
Review Final Results. Commerce has found it appropriate to apply that 
calculated rate to Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. and Dongbu Incheon Steel Co., 
Ltd. in this review. For a list of the companies for which a review was 
requested and not rescinded, and which were not selected as mandatory 
respondents or found to be cross-owned with a mandatory respondent, see 
Appendix II to this notice.
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    \9\ See Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products form the 
Republic of Korea: Final Results of Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Review; 2018, 86 FR 40465 (July 28, 2021) (CRS Third 
Admin Review Final Results).
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Preliminary Results of the Review

    As a result of this review, we preliminarily determine the net 
countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Producer/exporter           Subsidy rate (percent  ad valorem)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyundai Steel Co., Ltd., also         0.27 (de minimis).
 referred to as Hyundai Steel
 Company \10\.
POSCO \11\..........................  0.34 (de minimis).
Non-Selected Companies Under Review   1.93.
 \12\.

[[Page 60655]]

 
Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd./Dongbu         9.18.
 Incheon Steel Co., Ltd \13\.
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Verification
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    \10\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with 
Hyundai Steel: Hyundai Green Power Co. Ltd.
    \11\ As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce has found the following companies to be cross-owned with 
POSCO: Pohang Scrap Recycling Distribution Center Co. Ltd.; POSCO 
Chemical; POSCO M-Tech; POSCO Nippon Steel RHF Joint Venture Co., 
Ltd.; and POSCO Terminal. The subsidy rate applies to all cross-
owned companies. We note that POSCO has an affiliated trading 
company through which it exported certain subject merchandise, POSCO 
International Corporation (POSCO International). POSCO International 
was not selected as a mandatory respondent, but was examined in the 
context of POSCO. Therefore, there is not an established rate for 
POSCO International and POSCO International's subsidies are 
accounted for in terms of POSCO's total subsidy rate. Instead, 
entries of subject merchandise exported by POSCO International will 
receive the rate of the producer listed on the entry form with CBP. 
Thus, the subsidy rate applied to POSCO and POSCO's cross-owned 
affiliated companies is also applied to POSCO International for 
entries of merchandise produced by POSCO.
    \12\ See Appendix II.
    \13\ As described above, while Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. and Dongbu 
Incheon Steel Co., Ltd. are non-selected respondents, because each 
received a calculated rate in a prior review (i.e., CRS Third Admin 
Review Final Results), Commerce has found it appropriate to apply 
that calculated rate to that to Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. and Dongbu 
Incheon Steel Co., Ltd. in this review.
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    As provided in section 782(i)(3) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
verify the information relied upon for its final results.

Assessment Rates

    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4)(i), we preliminarily assign 
subsidy rates in the amounts shown above for the producer/exporters 
shown above. Upon issuance of the final results, consistent with 
section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.212(b)(2), Commerce 
shall determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall 
assess, countervailing duties on all appropriate entries covered by 
this review. If the assessment rate calculated in the final results is 
zero or de minimis, we will instruct CBP to liquidate all appropriate 
entries without regard to countervailing duties. 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

    Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, Commerce intends, upon 
publication of the final results, to instruct CBP to collect cash 
deposits of estimated countervailing duties in the amounts indicated 
above with regard to shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of the final results of this review, except, where the rate 
calculated in the final results is zero or de minimis, no cash deposit 
will be required. For all non-reviewed firms, CBP will continue to 
collect cash deposits at the most recent company-specific or all-others 
rate applicable to the company, as appropriate. These cash deposit 
requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further 
notice.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    We intend to disclose to interested parties the calculations for 
these preliminary results within five days of the date of publication 
of this notice.\14\ A timeline for the submission of case and rebuttal 
briefs and written comments will be provided to interested parties at a 
later date.\15\ Note that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of 
its requirements for serving documents containing business proprietary 
information, until further notice.\16\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) 
and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this 
review 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 
authorities.\17\ All briefs must be filed electronically using 
Enforcement and Compliance's ACCESS system.
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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c) and (d).
    \16\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 
10, 2020).
    \17\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and 351.309(d)(2).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, 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 after the 
date of publication of this notice.\18\ Requests should contain: (1) 
the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of 
participants; and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed. If a 
request for a hearing is made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at 
a time and to be determined. Parties should confirm time and date of 
the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
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    \18\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    Unless the deadline is extended, we intend to issue the final 
results of this administrative review, which will include the results 
of our analysis of the issues raised by interested parties in any 
written briefs, within 120 days after the date of publication of these 
preliminary results, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 
CFR 351.213(h).

Notification to Interested Parties

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

    Dated: September 30, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Review
IV. Scope of the Order
V. Rate for Non-Examined Companies
VI. Subsidies Valuation Information
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. Recommendation

Appendix II

List of Non-Selected Companies

1. AJU Steel Co., Ltd.
2. Amerisource Korea
3. Amerisource International
4. BC Trade
5. Busung Steel Co., Ltd.
6. Cenit Co., Ltd.
7. Daewoo Logistics Corp.
8. Dai Yang Metal Co., Ltd.
9. DK GNS Co., Ltd
10. Dongbu Incheon Steel Co., Ltd.\19\
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    \19\ As described above, while Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. and Dongbu 
Incheon Steel Co., Ltd. are non-selected respondents, because each 
received a calculated rate in a prior review (i.e., CRS Third Admin 
Review Final Results), Commerce has found it appropriate to apply 
that calculated rate to that to Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. and Dongbu 
Incheon Steel Co., Ltd.

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[[Page 60656]]

11. Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd.\20\
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    \20\ See footnote 24.
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12. KG Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. (formerly Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd.)
13. Dong Jin Machinery
14. Dongkuk Industries Co., Ltd.
15. Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd.
16. Eunsan Shipping and Air Cargo Co., Ltd.
17. Euro Line Global Co., Ltd.
18. Golden State Corp.
19. GS Global Corp.
20. Hanawell Co., Ltd.
21. Hankum Co., Ltd.
22. Hyosung TNC Corp.
23. Hyuk San Profile Co., Ltd.
24. Hyundai Group
25. Iljin NTS Co., Ltd.
26. Iljin Steel Corp.
27. Jeen Pung Industrial Co., Ltd.
28. JT Solution
29. Kolon Global Corporation
30. Nauri Logistics Co., Ltd.
31. Okaya (Korea) Co., Ltd.
32. PL Special Steel Co., Ltd.
33. POSCO C&C Co., Ltd.
34. POSCO Daewoo Corp.
35. POSCO International Corporation.
36. Samsung C&T Corp.
37. Samsung STS Co., Ltd.
38. SeAH Steel Corp.
39. SM Automotive Ltd.
40. SK Networks Co., Ltd.
41. Taihan Electric Wire Co., Ltd.
42. TGS Pipe Co., Ltd.
43. TI Automotive Ltd.
44. Xeno Energy
45. Young Steel Co., Ltd.

[FR Doc. 2022-21803 Filed 10-5-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P