[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 129 (Friday, July 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55582-55584]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14712]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-351-857]


Raw Honey From Brazil: Preliminary Results 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 finds 
that raw honey from Brazil was sold in the United States at below 
normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR) November 23, 2021, 
through May 31, 2023. We are also rescinding the review with respect to 
certain companies that had no entries of the subject merchandise during 
the POR. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary 
results.

DATES: Applicable July 5, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Jennings, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202)-482-1110.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On August 3, 2023, Commerce initiated an administrative review of 
the antidumping duty order on raw honey from Brazil, in accordance with 
section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).\1\ This 
review covers 23 companies.\2\ On August 29, 2023, Commerce selected 
Apis Nativa Agroindustrial Exportadora Ltda. (Apis Nativa) and Melbras 
Importadora E Exportadora Agroindustrial Ltda. (Melbras) for individual 
examination as mandatory respondents.\3\
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 51271 (August 3, 2023) (Initiation 
Notice); see also Raw Honey from Argentina, Brazil, India, and the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Antidumping Duty Orders, 87 FR 35501 
(June 10, 2022) (Order).
    \2\ See Initiation Notice.
    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Respondent Selection,'' dated August 29, 
2023.
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    On February 14, 2024, Commerce extended the time limit for 
completing the preliminary results of this review until June 28, 
2024.\4\ For details regarding the events that occurred subsequent to 
the initiation of the review, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\5\
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Extension of Deadline for Preliminary 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,'' dated February 
14, 2024.
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Raw Honey 
from Brazil and Partial Rescission of Administrative Review; 2021-
2023,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice 
(Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Order

    The product covered by the scope of this Order is raw honey from 
Brazil. A complete description of the scope of the Order is contained 
in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\6\
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    \6\ Id. at ``Scope of the Order.''
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Rescission of Administrative Review, in Part

    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), when there are no reviewable 
entries of subject merchandise during the POR subject to the 
antidumping duty order for which liquidation is suspended, Commerce may 
rescind an administrative review, in whole or only with respect to a 
particular exporter or producer.\7\
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    \7\ See, e.g., Forged Steel Fittings from Taiwan: Rescission of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2018-2019, 85 FR 71317, 
71318 (November 9, 2020); see also Certain Circular Welded Non-Alloy 
Steel Pipe from Mexico: Rescission of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review; 2016-2017, 83 FR 54084 (October 26, 2018).
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    At the end of the administrative review, any suspended entries are 
liquidated at the assessment rate computed for the review period.\8\ 
Therefore, for an administrative review to be conducted, there must be 
a reviewable, suspended entry to be liquidated at the newly calculated 
assessment rate. On May 20, 2024, Commerce notified all interested 
parties of its intent to rescind this review with respect to certain 
companies because those companies had no reviewable, suspended entries 
of subject merchandise and invited parties to comment.\9\ We received 
no comments on our intent to rescind the review with respect to these 
companies. Accordingly, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3) and (d)(4), we 
are rescinding this administrative review with respect to the five 
companies listed in Appendix III to this notice that had no reviewable, 
suspended entries of subject merchandise during the POR.\10\
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    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).
    \9\ See Memorandum, ``Notice of Intent to Rescind Review, In 
Part,'' released on May 20, 2024.
    \10\ See Memorandum, ``CBP Data Release,'' dated August 14, 
2023, at Attachment.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a) of the Act. We calculated export price and

[[Page 55583]]

constructed export price in accordance with sections 772(a) and 772(b) 
of the Act, respectively. For a full description of the methodology 
underlying these preliminary results, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum. See Appendix I for a complete list of topics discussed in 
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 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 http://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is available at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

Rate for Non-Examined Companies

    The Act 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 and de minimis margins, and any 
margins determined entirely {on the basis of facts available{time} .''
    In this review, we have preliminarily calculated weighted-average 
dumping margins of zero percent and 2.31 percent for Apis Nativa and 
Melbras, respectively. Therefore, in accordance with section 
735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are preliminarily applying Melbras' 
weighted-average dumping margin of 2.31 percent to the non-examined 
companies, because this is the only rate that is not zero, de minimis, 
or based entirely on facts available.

Preliminary Results of the Review

    We preliminarily determine that the following estimated weighted-
average dumping margins exist during the period November 23, 2021, 
through May 31, 2023:
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    \11\ See Appendix II for a list of these companies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Weighted-
                                                               average
                     Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                              (percent)
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Apis Nativa Agroindustrial Exportadora Ltda................         0.00
Melbras Importadora E Exportadora Agroindustrial Ltda......         2.31
Non-Examined Companies \11\................................         2.31
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    Commerce intends to disclose the calculations performed in 
connection with these preliminary results to interested parties within 
five days after the date of publication of this notice, or, if there is 
no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of 
this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).\12\
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    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
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    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 five days after the date for filing case 
briefs.\13\ 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.\14\ 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 briefs 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.\15\ 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).\16\
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    \13\ 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 Procedures).
    \14\ See 19 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
    \15\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \16\ See APO and Service Procedures.
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must do so within 
30 days of publication of these preliminary results by submitting a 
written request to the Assistant Secretary, filed electronically via 
ACCESS.\17\ Requests should contain the party's name, address, and 
telephone number, the number of participants, whether any participant 
is a foreign national, and a list of the issues to be discussed. Issues 
raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective 
case and rebuttal briefs.\18\ 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. 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.
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    \17\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
    \18\ See 19 CFR 351.310.
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Assessment Rates

    The final results of this review shall be the basis for the 
assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by 
this review and for future deposits of estimated duties, where 
applicable.\19\
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    \19\ See section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act.
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    Upon completion of the final results of this 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. If a respondent's weighted-average dumping margin is not 
zero or de minimis (i.e., less than 0.5 percent) in the final results 
of this review, we will calculate importer-specific assessment rates 
based on the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the 
importer's examined sales to the total entered value of those same 
sales in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). We intend to instruct 
CBP to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by 
this review. Where an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de 
minimis in the final results of this review, we intend to instruct CBP 
to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping 
duties in accordance with 19 CFR 351.106(c)(2).
    For the companies in Appendix III, we will instruct CBP to assess 
antidumping duties on any suspended entries that entered under their 
CBP case numbers (i.e., at that exporter's

[[Page 55584]]

rate) at a rate equal to the cash deposit of estimated antidumping 
duties required at the time of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for 
consumption, during the POR.
    In accordance with Commerce's ``automatic assessment'' practice, 
for entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced Apis Nativa 
or Melbras for which these companies did not know that the merchandise 
was destined for the United States, we will instruct CBP to liquidate 
those entries at the all-others rate established in the original less-
than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation (i.e., 7.89 percent),\20\ if there 
is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) involved in the 
transaction.\21\ For the companies which were not selected for 
individual review, we will assign an assessment rate based on the 
review-specific average rate, calculated as noted in the ``Preliminary 
Results of Review'' section above.
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    \20\ See Order, 87 FR at 35503.
    \21\ For a full description 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 publication date 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 for all 
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the 
final results of this administrative review, as provided by section 
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit rate for the companies 
listed in the final results of this review will be equal to the 
weighted-average dumping margin established in the final results of 
this administrative review except if the rate is less than 0.50 percent 
and, therefore, de minimis within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.106(c)(1), 
in which case the cash deposit rate will be zero; (2) for merchandise 
exported by producers or exporters 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 for the most 
recently-completed segment of this proceeding in which they were 
reviewed; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, or 
the original LTFV investigation, but the producer is, then the cash 
deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recently-
completed segment of this proceeding for the producer of the 
merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other producers or 
exporters will continue to be 7.89 percent, the all-others rate 
established in the LTFV investigation as adjusted for the export-
subsidy rate in the companion countervailing duty investigation.\22\ 
The cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect 
until further notice.
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    \22\ See Order, 85 FR at 19926.
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Final Results of Review

    Unless extended, 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, 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 the POR. 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

    Commerce is issuing and publishing these results in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4).

    Dated: June 28, 2024.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the 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. Partial Rescission of Administrative Review
V. Discussion of the Methodology
VI. Currency Conversion
VII. Recommendation

Appendix II

List of Companies Not Individually Examined

1. Apidouro Comercial Exportadora E Importadora Ltda.
2. Api[aacute]rios Adams Agroindustrial Comercial Exportadora Ltda.
3. Breyer & Cia. Ltda.
4. Cooperativa Mista Dos Apicultores D
5. Flora Nectar
6. Lambertucci
7. Minamel
8. Nectar Floral
9. S & A Honey Ltda.
10. Api[aacute]rio Diamante Comercial Exportadora Ltda/
Api[aacute]rio Diamante Produ[ccedil][atilde]o e Comercial de Mel 
Ltda (Supermel)
11. Central de Cooperativas Ap[iacute]colas do Semi[aacute]rido 
Brasileiro--CASA APIS \23\
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    \23\ We also initiated this review on ``Central De Cooperativas 
Apicolas Do (CASA APIS),'' which we are preliminarily considering to 
be the same company. See Initiation Notice.
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12. Floranectar Ind. Comp. Imp. E Exp. De Mel
13. Minamel Agroind[uacute]stria Ltda.
14. Annamell Imp. E Exp. De Produtos Apicoloas Ltda.
15. Conex[atilde]o Agro Ltda ME
16. Wenzel's Apicultura Comercio Industria Importacao E Exportacao 
Ltda.\24\
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    \24\ We also initiated this review on ``Wenzel's Apicultura,'' 
which we are preliminarily considering to be the same company. See 
Initiation Notice.
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Appendix III

Companies Rescinded from Administrative Review

1. Carnauba Do Brasil Ltda.
2. Novomel
3. Safe Logistics
4. Samel Honey
5. STM Trading

[FR Doc. 2024-14712 Filed 7-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P