[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48147-48149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12341]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-533-901]


Organic Soybean Meal From India: Preliminary Results, Preliminary 
Intent To Rescind, in Part, and Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review; 2021-2023

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that Shanti Worldwide made sales of organic soybean meal 
from India at below normal value during the period of review (POR), 
November 2, 2021, through April 30, 2023. Additionally, we find that 
Shri Sumati Industries Pvt. Ltd. (Sumati), did not make bona fide sales 
during the POR. Accordingly, Commerce preliminarily intends to rescind 
this review with respect to Sumati. Further, we are rescinding the 
review with respect to 35 companies for which the review requests were 
timely withdrawn. We invite interested parties to comment on these 
preliminary results.

DATES: Applicable June 5, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Hoadley AD/CVD Operations, Office 
VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, 
DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3148.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On May 16, 2022, Commerce issued the antidumping duty order on 
organic soybean meal from India.\1\ On May 31, 2023, Commerce received 
requests for administrative review from Ecopure Specialties Ltd. 
(Ecopure), Shanti Worldwide, Sumati, and the Organic Soybean Processors 
of America (the petitioner).\2\ Based on these timely requests for 
review, and in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), Commerce 
initiated an administrative review of the Order covering 37 
companies.\3\ On July 26, 2023, the petitioner withdrew its request for 
review of five companies \4\ and on October 6, 2023, the petitioner 
withdrew its request for all companies for which it initially requested 
review.\5\ On October 10, 2023, Ecopure withdrew its request for review 
of itself.\6\ Thus, there are no outstanding review requests for any 
companies except Shanti Worldwide and Sumati. On January 18, 2024, we 
extended the deadline for these preliminary results until no later than 
May 30, 2024.\7\
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    \1\ See Organic Soybean Meal from India: Antidumping Duty Order, 
87 FR 29737 (May 16, 2022) (Order).
    \2\ See Ecopure's Letter, ``Ecopure Specialties Limited's 
Request for Administrative Review,'' dated May 31, 2023; Shanti 
Worldwide's Letter, ``Request for Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review,'' dated May 31, 2023; and Sumati's Letter, ``Request for 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated May 31, 2023; and 
Petitioner's Letter, ``Request for Administrative Review,'' dated 
May 31, 2023.
    \3\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 44262 (July 12, 2023).
    \4\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Partial Withdrawal of Request for 
Administrative Review,'' dated July 26, 2023.
    \5\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Withdrawal of Request for 
Administrative Review,'' dated October 6, 2023.
    \6\ See Ecopure's Letter, ``Ecopure Specialties Private 
Limited's Withdrawal of Request for Administrative Review,'' dated 
October 10, 2023.
    \7\ See Memorandum, ``Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated January 
18, 2024.
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Scope of the Order

    The product covered by the Order is certified organic soybean meal. 
For a full description of the scope of the Order, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.

Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an 
administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party who requested 
the review withdraws the request within 90 days of the date of 
publication of the notice of initiation. As noted above, all requests 
for administrative review were timely withdrawn for all companies 
except

[[Page 48148]]

Shanti Worldwide and Sumati. Therefore, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.213(d)(1), we are rescinding this administrative review with 
respect to 35 companies named in the Initiation Notice.\8\
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    \8\ See Appendix II for a list of these companies.
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Intent To Rescind, in Part

    As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum and as further 
explained in the Bona Fides Sales Memorandum, Commerce preliminarily 
finds that Sumati did not make a bona fide sale of organic soybean meal 
during the POR.\9\ Commerce reached this conclusion based on the 
totality of the record information surrounding Sumati's reported sale, 
including, but not limited to, the sales quantity, profitability, and 
expenses arising from the sale.
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    \9\ See Memoranda, ``Preliminary Bona Fide Sales Analysis for 
Shri Sumati Industries Pvt. Ltd.,'' dated concurrently with this 
notice (Bona Fide Sales Memorandum) and ``Decision Memorandum for 
the Preliminary Results, Preliminary Intent to Rescind, in Part, and 
Partial Recission of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of 
the Antidumping Duty Order on Organic Soybean Meal from India; 2021-
2023,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice.
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    Because we preliminarily find that Sumati did not make a bona fide 
sale during the POR, we find that Sumati had no reviewable transactions 
during the POR. Accordingly, we preliminarily intend to rescind this 
administrative review with regards to Sumati. The factual information 
used in our bona fide sales analysis of Sumati involves business 
proprietary information. See the Bona Fide Sales Memorandum for a full 
discussion of the basis of our preliminary findings.

Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Because 
Commerce preliminarily finds that Shanti Worldwide failed to cooperate 
to the best of its ability in responding to our requests for 
information, we relied on facts available, with adverse inferences 
(AFA), in determining this company's dumping margin, consistent with 
section 776 of the Act.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of topics 
included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included in Appendix 
I of this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum 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, the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

Preliminary Results of Review

    As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine the following 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin for the period November 2, 
2021, through April 30, 2023:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Weighted-
                                                               average
                   Manufacturer/exporter                       dumping
                                                                margin
                                                              (percent)
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Shanti Worldwide...........................................       18.80
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations 
performed in connection with preliminary results within five days of 
any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within 
five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary 
results in the Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). 
However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA to the individually 
examined company, Shanti Worldwide, in accordance with section 776(a) 
and (b) of the Act, there are no calculations to disclose.
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c), interested parties may submit case 
briefs to Commerce 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 five days after the date for filing 
case briefs.\10\ Interested parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal 
briefs in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing 
each issue; and (2) a table of authorities.\11\
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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also Administrative Protective 
Order, Service, and Other Procedures in Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Proceedings, 88 FR 67069, 67077 (September 29, 
2023) (APO and Service Final Rule).
    \11\ See 19 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
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    As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior 
proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an 
executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages 
total, including footnotes. In this review, we instead request that 
interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, 
executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\12\ Further, 
we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary 
of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We 
intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the 
comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that 
will accompany the final results in this administrative review. We 
request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant 
citations in the public executive summary of each issue. Note that 
Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the 
service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f).\13\
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    \12\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \13\ See APO and Service Final Rule.
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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 p.m. Eastern Time 
within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. If a 
request for a hearing is made, Commerce will inform parties of the 
scheduled date for the hearing.\14\
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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.310(d).
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    Commerce intends to issue the final results of this administrative 
review, including the results of our analysis of issues raised by the 
parties in the written comments, within 120 days after the publication 
of this notice, unless otherwise extended.\15\
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    \15\ See section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.213(h)(1).
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Assessment Rates

    Upon completion of the administrative review, Commerce shall 
determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, 
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this 
review.\16\ If the weighted-average dumping margin is not zero or de 
minimis (i.e., less than 0.5 percent), then Commerce will calculate 
importer-specific ad valorem antidumping duty assessment rates based on 
the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for each importer's 
examined sales to the total entered value of those same sales in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). If the weighted-average dumping 
margin is

[[Page 48149]]

zero or de minimis in the final results, or if an importer-specific 
assessment rate is zero or de minimis in the final results, Commerce 
will instruct CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard 
to antidumping duties.
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    \16\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b).
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    In accordance with Commerce's ``automatic assessment'' practice, 
for entries of subject merchandise that entered the United States 
during the POR that were produced by Shanti Worldwide for which Shanti 
Worldwide did not know that its merchandise was destined to the United 
States, Commerce 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.\17\
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    \17\ 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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    For the companies listed in Appendix II for which we are rescinding 
this review, we will instruct CBP to assess antidumping duties on all 
appropriate entries at a rate equal to the cash deposit of estimated 
antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or withdrawal from 
warehouse, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(c)(l)(i). Commerce intends 
to issue these rescission instructions to CBP no earlier than 35 days 
after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    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 deposit requirements will be effective for all 
shipments of organic soybean meal from India entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the 
final results of this administrative review, as provided for by section 
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit rate for the companies 
under review will be the rate established in the final results of this 
review (except, if the rate is zero or de minimis, no cash deposit will 
be required); (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies not 
listed above, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-
specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter 
is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the less-than-
fair-value investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit 
rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the 
manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all 
other manufacturers or exporters will continue to be 3.07 percent, the 
all-others rate established in the investigation.\18\ These cash 
deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until 
further notice.
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    \18\ See Order.
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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 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 duties occurred and the subsequent 
assessment of double antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

    These preliminary results of administrative review are issued and 
published in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the 
Act, and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: May 30, 2024.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy 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. Recommendation

Appendix II

Companies for Which This Administrative Review Is Being Rescinded

1. Abhay Oil Industries
2. Agrawal Oil & Biocheam
3. Bergwerff Organic India Pvt., Ltd.; Bergwerff Organic Private 
Limited/Suminter.India Organic Private Limited
4. Bio Treasure Overseas
5. Delight Lifelike Products Private Ltd.
6. Delight Sustainable Products LLP
7. Eco Gold Nutri and Organics LLP.
8. Ecopure Specialities Ltd.
9. Jay Shree Agro Products
10. Kaj Traders
11. Kanishka Organics LLP
12. Keshav Proteins and Organic LLP.
13. Kiesriya Agro Exim Pvt., Ltd.
14. Mani Loni
15. Navjyot International Pvt., Ltd.
16. Prasad Cotton Industries Pvt., Ltd.
17. Radha Krishna Oil Product
18. Raj Foods International
19. Raj Natural Food Pvt., Ltd.
20. Rajat Agro Commodities Pvt., Ltd.
21. Reindeer Organics LLP.
22. Sai Smaran Foods Ltd.
23. Satguru Agro Resources Private Ltd.
24. Satguru Organics Pvt., Ltd.
25. Seasons International Pvt., Ltd.
26. Shanti Overseas
27. Shemach Impex
28. Shivam Enterprises
29. Shri Narayani Mfg. Co.
30. Suminter India Organics Pvt., Ltd.
31. Tejawat Organic Foods
32. Unique Organics Ltd.
33. Vimala Food Products
34. Vinod Kumar Ranjeet Singh Bafna
35. We Organic Nature Pvt. Ltd.

[FR Doc. 2024-12341 Filed 6-4-24; 8:45 am]
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