[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38489-38491]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12646]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-580-883]


Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products From the Republic of 
Korea: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review 
and Preliminary Determination of No Shipments; 2021-2022

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds 
that certain hot-rolled steel flat products (hot-rolled steel) from the 
Republic of Korea (Korea) were not sold at less than normal value 
during the period of review (POR), October 1, 2021, through September 
30, 2022. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary 
results.

DATES: Applicable June 13, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dmitry Vladimirov or Thomas Schauer, 
AD/CVD Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0665 or (202) 
482-0410, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On October 3, 2016, Commerce published in the Federal Register an 
antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel from Korea.\1\ On October 3, 
2022, we published in the Federal Register a notice of opportunity to 
request an administrative review of the Order.\2\ On December 5, 2022, 
based on timely requests for an administrative review, Commerce 
initiated an antidumping duty administrative review of 48 companies.\3\
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    \1\ See Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from Australia, 
Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, the Republic 
of Turkey, and the United Kingdom: Amended Final Affirmative 
Antidumping Determinations for Australia, the Republic of Korea, and 
the Republic of Turkey and Antidumping Duty Orders, 81 FR 67962 
(October 3, 2016) (Order).
    \2\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity To Request Administrative 
Review and Join Annual Inquiry Service List, 87 FR 59775 (October 3, 
2022).
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 87 FR 74404, 74406-07 (December 5, 2022).
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Scope of the Order

    The products covered by this Order are hot-rolled steel from Korea. 
A full description of the scope of the Order is contained in the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\4\
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2020-2021,'' 
dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice 
(Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Export price 
and constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 
772 of the Act. Normal value is calculated in accordance with section 
773 of the Act.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying these 
preliminary results, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of 
the topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is attached 
as Appendix I to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a 
public document and is made available to the public 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 is available at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

Preliminary Determination of No Shipments

    One company under review, Aekyung Chemical Co., Ltd. (Aekyung),\5\ 
filed a statement reporting that it made no sales or exports of subject 
merchandise to the United States during the POR.\6\ We received no 
information from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that 
contradicts Aekyung's no-shipments claim.\7\ Consequently, we 
preliminarily determine that Aekyung had no shipments during the POR. 
Consistent with Commerce's practice, we find that it is not appropriate 
to rescind the review with respect to Aekyung, but rather to complete 
the review and issue appropriate instructions to CBP based on the final 
results of this review.\8\
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    \5\ In the Initiation Notice, this company was listed as Aekyung 
Chemical, based on the request for review received by Commerce.
    \6\ See Aekyung's Letter, ``No Shipments Letter,'' dated January 
4, 2023.
    \7\ See Memorandum, ``No shipment inquiry with respect to 
Aekyung Chemical Co., Ltd. during the period 10/01/2021 through 09/
30/2022,'' dated March 10, 2023.
    \8\ See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: 
Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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Rate for Non-Examined Companies

    The statute and Commerce's regulations do not address the 
establishment of a rate to be applied to companies not selected for 
examination when Commerce limits its examination in an administrative 
review pursuant to section 777A(c)(2) of the Act. Generally, Commerce 
looks to section 735(c)(5) of the Act, which provides instructions for 
calculating the all-others rate in a market economy investigation, for 
guidance when calculating the rate for companies which were not 
selected for individual examination in an administrative review. Under 
section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, the all-others rate is normally an 
amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average 
dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually 
investigated, excluding any zero or de minimis margins, and any margins 
determined entirely on the basis of facts available.
    However, where the dumping margins for 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 estimated all others rate 
for exporters and producers not individually investigated, including 
averaging the estimated weighted average dumping margins determined for 
the exporters and producers individually investigated.'' In this 
review, we preliminarily calculated a weighted-average dumping margin 
of zero for both Hyundai Steel Company (Hyundai Steel) and for 
POSCO.\9\ Thus, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, and 
consistent with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal

[[Page 38490]]

Circuit's decision in Albemarle,\10\ and Commerce's practice,\11\ we 
are preliminarily assigning the zero percent rate to the companies not 
selected for individual examination listed in Appendix II of this 
notice, because we calculated zero percent rates for the mandatory 
respondents.
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    \9\ We initiated this review with respect to the following 
companies: POSCO and POSCO International Corporation. See Initiation 
Notice, 87 FR at 74407. Commerce previously treated POSCO and POSCO 
International Corporation as a single entity. See Certain Hot-Rolled 
Steel Flat Products from the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Results 
of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2019-2020, 86 FR 59985 
(October 29, 2021), and accompanying Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum, at 6-13, unchanged in Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat 
Products from the Republic of Korea: Final Results of Antidumping 
Duty Administrative Review; 2019-2020, 87 FR 12660 (March 7, 2022).
    \10\ See Albemarle Corp v. United States, 821 F.3d 1345 (Fed. 
Cir. 2016) (Albemarle).
    \11\ See, e.g., Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the 
Republic of Korea: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review; 2019-2020, 87 FR 15371 (March 18, 2022).
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Preliminary Results of Review

    We preliminarily determine that the following weighted-average 
dumping margins exist for the period October 1, 2021, through September 
30, 2022:
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    \12\ See Appendix II for a full list of companies not 
individually examined in this review.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
                                                              average
                    Producer/exporter                     dumping margin
                                                             (percent)
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Hyundai Steel Company...................................            0.00
POSCO; POSCO International Corporation..................            0.00
Companies Not Individually Examined \12\................            0.00
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties within 
five days after public announcement of the preliminary results.\13\ 
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c), interested parties may submit case 
briefs no later than 30 days after the date of publication of this 
notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, 
may be filed not later than seven days after the date for filing case 
briefs.\14\ Interested 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 authorities.\15\ Executive summaries should be limited 
to five pages total, including footnotes. Note that Commerce has 
temporarily modified certain of its requirements for serving documents 
containing business proprietary information, until further notice.\16\
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    \13\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also Temporary Rule Modifying 
AD/CVD Service Requirements Due to COVID-19, 85 FR 17006, 17007 
(March 26, 2020) (``To provide adequate time for release of case 
briefs via ACCESS, E&C intends to schedule the due date for all 
rebuttal briefs to be 7 days after case briefs are filed (while 
these modifications remain in effect).'').
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \16\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 
10, 2020).
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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. 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 briefs. An electronically filed 
hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety by 
Commerce's electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time 
within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.
    Commerce intends to issue the final results of this administrative 
review, including the results of its analysis of the issues raised in 
any written briefs, not later than 120 days after the date of 
publication of this notice, unless extended, pursuant to section 
751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

Assessment Rates

    Upon completion of the final results, Commerce shall determine, and 
CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered 
by this review. If either of the respondents' weighted-average dumping 
margins is not zero or de minimis (i.e., less than 0.50 percent) in the 
final results of this review, we intend to calculate an importer-
specific assessment rate based on the ratio of the total amount of 
dumping calculated for each importer's examined sales and the total 
entered value of those same sales in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(b)(1).\17\ If either of the respondents' weighted-average 
dumping margin or an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de 
minimis in the final results of review, we intend to instruct CBP to 
liquidate entries without regard to antidumping duties.\18\ The final 
results of this administrative 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.\19\
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    \17\ See Antidumping Proceedings: Calculation of the Weighted-
Average Dumping Margin and Assessment Rate in Certain Antidumping 
Proceedings: Final Modification, 77 FR 8101, 8103 (February 14, 
2012).
    \18\ Id., 77 FR at 8102-03; see also 19 CFR 351.106(c)(2).
    \19\ See section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act.
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    For entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by 
either of the respondents for which they did not know that the 
merchandise was destined to the United States, we will instruct CBP to 
liquidate unreviewed entries at the all-others rate if there is no rate 
for the intermediate company(ies) involved in the transaction.\20\ For 
the companies identified in Appendix II that were not selected for 
individual examination, we will instruct CBP to liquidate entries at 
the rate established after the completion of the final results of 
review.
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    \20\ For a full discussion of this practice, see Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 
68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003).
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    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 in the Federal Register of the notice of final results of 
administrative review for all shipments of hot-rolled steel from Korea 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of publication as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) 
the cash deposit rate for the respondents will be equal to the 
weighted-average dumping margin established in the final results of 
this administrative review; (2) for merchandise exported by a company 
not covered in this review but covered in a prior segment of the 
proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-
specific rate published in the completed segment for the most recent 
period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review or the 
original investigation but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate 
will be the rate established in the completed segment for the most 
recent period for the producer of the merchandise; (4) the cash deposit 
rate for all other producers or exporters will continue to be 6.05 
percent, the all-others rate established in the less-than-fair-value 
investigation.\21\ These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall 
remain in effect until further notice.
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    \21\ See Order, 81 FR at 67965.

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[[Page 38491]]

Final Results of Review

    Unless the deadline is otherwise extended, Commerce intends to 
issue the final results of this administrative review, including the 
results of its analysis of issues raised by interested parties in the 
written comments, within 120 days of publication of these preliminary 
results in the Federal Register, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1).

Notification to Importers

    This notice 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 POR. 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 
351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: June 7, 2023.
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. Scope of the Order
IV. Discussion of the Methodology
V. Currency Conversion
VI. Recommendation

Appendix II

List of Companies Not Selected for Individual Examination

1. AJU Besteel Co., Ltd.
2. Ameri Source Korea
3. Chemaven Co., Ltd.
4. Cj Cheiljedang Corp.
5. Cj Global Logistics Service Inc.
6. Dongkuk Industries Co., Ltd.
7. Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd.
8. Geco Industries Co., Ltd.
9. Geumok Tech. Co., Ltd.
10. Goi Tech Industries Co., Ltd.
11. Golden State Corporation
12. Gs Global Corp.
13. Gs Holdings Corp.
14. Hanawell Co., Ltd.
15. Hanjin Gls Co., Ltd.
16. Hankook Co., Ltd.
17. HISTEEL
18. Hyosung Corporation
19. Hyosung Tnc Corporation
20. Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd.
21. Hyundai Rb Co., Ltd.
22. Il Jin Nts Co., Ltd.
23. Inchang Electronics Co., Ltd.
24. J&K Korea Co., Ltd.
25. Jeil Industries Co., Ltd.
26. Jeil Metal Co., Ltd.
27. Jin Young Metal
28. Jun Il Co., Ltd.
29. KG Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd.
30. KG Steel Corporation
31. Kumkang Kind Co., Ltd.
32. Lg Electronics Inc.
33. Maxflex Corp.
34. Mitsubishi Corp. Korea
35. Mitsui Chemicals & Skc Polyurethane
36. Nexteel Co., Ltd.
37. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
38. SeAH Steel Corporation
39. Sja Inc. (Korea)
40. Solvay Silica Korea
41. Soon Ho Co., Ltd.
42. Sumitomo Corp. Korea Ltd.
43. Sungjin Precision
44. Wintec Korea Inc.
45. Wonbangtech Co., Ltd.

[FR Doc. 2023-12646 Filed 6-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P