[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 198 (Friday, October 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82572-82573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23566]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-201-820]
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Fresh
Tomatoes From Mexico; Preliminary Results of 2022-2023 Administrative
Review
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that a respondent selected for individual examination,
Bioparques de Occidente, S.A. de C.V. (Bioparques), complied with the
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Fresh
Tomatoes from Mexico (2019 Agreement), for the period of review (POR)
September 1, 2022, through August 31, 2023. Commerce also preliminarily
determines that another respondent selected for individual examination,
Agricola Globalmex, S.A. de C.V. (Globalmex), complied with certain
requirements of the 2019 Agreement during the POR. Additionally,
Commerce preliminarily determines that the 2019 Agreement functioned as
intended and continued to meet the statutory requirements under
sections 734(c) and (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act)
during the POR. Commerce requires additional information from two
respondents, Globalmex and NatureSweet Invernaderos S. de R.L. de C.V./
NatureSweet Comercializadora, S. de R.L. de C.V. (collectively,
NatureSweet). We intend to examine the additional requested information
in a post-preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable October 11, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Cordell or Walter Schaub,
Enforcement & Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20230, telephone: (202) 482-0408 or (202) 482-0907, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On September 19, 2019, Commerce signed an agreement under section
734(c) of the Act, with representatives of Mexican fresh tomato
producers/exporters accounting for substantially all imports of fresh
tomatoes from Mexico,\1\ suspending the antidumping duty investigation
on fresh tomatoes from Mexico.\2\
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\1\ The Mexican Grower Associations include:
Confederaci[oacute]n de Asociaciones Agr[iacute]colas del Esta de
Sinaloa, A.C., Consejo Agr[iacute]cola de Baja California,
Asociaci[oacute]n de Productores de Hortalizas del Yaqui y Mayo and
Sistema Producto Tomate (collectively, Mexican Growers
Associations). Members of the Mexican Grower Associations are
Signatories to the 2019 Agreement (Mexican Signatories).
\2\ See Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico: Suspension of Antidumping
Duty Investigation, 84 FR 49987 (September 24, 2019) (2019
Agreement).
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On September 28, 2023, the Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE), a member
of the U.S. petitioning industry, filed a request for an administrative
review of the 2019 Agreement.\3\ Commerce published notice of its
initiation of the administrative review of the 2019 Agreement on
November 15, 2023.\4\ On January 23, 2024, Commerce selected three
companies as mandatory respondents, listed in alphabetical order:
Globalmex; Bioparques; and NatureSweet.\5\ On the same day, Commerce
issued questionnaires to each of the selected respondents.\6\
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\3\ See FTE's Letter, ``Request for Administrative Review,''
dated September 28, 2023.
\4\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 78298 (November 15, 2023).
\5\ See Memorandum, ``Respondent Selection,'' dated January 23,
2024 (Respondent Selection Memorandum).
\6\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Request for Information: Agricola
Globalmex, S.A. de C.V. and Bioparques de Occidente SA de C.V.,''
dated January 23, 2024 (Bioparques and Globalmex Request for
Information); Commerce's Letter, ``Request for Information:
NatureSweet Invernaderos S. de R.L. de C.V./NatureSweet
Comercializadora, S. de R.L. de C.V.,'' dated January 23, 2024
(NatureSweet Request for Information).
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Scope of the 2019 Agreement
Merchandise covered by the 2019 Agreement is typically classified
under the following subheading of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS), according to the season of importation: 0702.
The tariff classification is provided for convenience and customs
purposes; however, the written description of the scope of this 2019
Agreement is dispositive.\7\
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\7\ For a complete description of the Scope of the 2019
Agreement, see Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Results of the 2021-2022 Administrative Review: Fresh Tomatoes from
Mexico,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this
notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology and Preliminary Results
Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section
751(a)(1)(C) of the Act, which specifies that Commerce shall ``review
the current status of, and compliance with, any agreement by reason of
which an investigation was suspended.'' In this case, Commerce and
representatives of the Mexican tomato producers/exporters accounting
for substantially all imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico signed the
2019 Agreement, which suspended the underlying antidumping duty
investigation, on September 19, 2019. Pursuant to the 2019 Agreement,
the Mexican Signatories agreed to sell subject merchandise at or above
certain minimum reference prices, and that their pricing would
eliminate at least 85 percent of the dumping determined in the
antidumping duty investigation.\8\ The Mexican signatories also agreed
to other conditions, including quarterly audits,\9\ near-the-border
inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on all Round and Roma
tomatoes and certain other types of tomatoes beginning on April 4,
2020,\10\ and limits to adjustments to the sales price due to certain
changes in condition and quality after shipment.\11\
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\8\ See 2019 Agreement at Section VI.
\9\ Id. at Section VII.B.7.
\10\ Id. at Section VII.C; see also Memorandum, ``Frequently
Asked Questions Regarding Inspections,'' dated March 17, 2020.
\11\ See 2019 Agreement, 84 FR 49996, at Appendix D.
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After reviewing the information received to date from the mandatory
respondents in the initial and supplemental questionnaire responses, we
preliminarily determine that one respondent, Bioparques, has complied
with the requirements of the 2019 Agreement. We also preliminarily
determine based on the available information that another respondent,
Globalmex, has adhered to certain compliance requirements of the 2019
Agreement. Finally, we preliminarily determine that the 2019 Agreement
functioned as intended and that the 2019 Agreement continued to meet
the statutory requirements under sections 734(c) and (d) of the Act
during the POR.
We find that we require additional information to complete our
examination of two respondents, Globalmex and NatureSweet, with regards
to their compliance with the 2019 Agreement. We are issuing
supplemental questionnaires to solicit additional information and we
intend to address NatureSweet's compliance with all of the requirements
of the 2019 Agreement, and Globalmex's compliance with certain
remaining requirements of the 2019 Agreement, in a post-preliminary
analysis.
For a full description of the analysis underlying our conclusions,
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of topics discussed in
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is
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included as an 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.
Verification
As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to
verify the information relied upon in making its final determination.
Public Comment
Case briefs may be submitted no later than seven days after the
date on which the last verification report is issued in this review.
Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be
submitted no later than seven days after the deadline date for case
briefs.\12\ 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.\13\
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\12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1).
\13\ 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.\14\ Further,
we request that interested parties limit their executive summary of
each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We
intend to use the 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
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).\15\
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\14\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and
Decision Memorandum.
\15\ See Administrative Protective Order, Service, and Other
Procedures in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings; Final
Rule, 88 FR 67069 (September 29, 2023).
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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, 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.
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, unless extended.
Notification to Interested Parties
We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
Dated: October 7, 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
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Scope of the 2019 Agreement
III. Background
IV. Preliminary Results of Review
V. Discussion of the Issues
VI. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2024-23566 Filed 10-10-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P