[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 7 (Thursday, January 10, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2252-2254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-00349]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-985]
Xanthan Gum From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of
Final Determination
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') preliminarily
determines that xanthan gum from the People's Republic of China
(``PRC'') is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at
less than fair value (``LTFV''), as provided in section 733 of the
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). The weighted-average
dumping margins are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section
of this notice. The final determination will be issued 135 days after
publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register.
DATES: Effective Date: January 10, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brandon Farlander or Erin Kearney, AD/
CVD Operations, Office 4, Import Administration, International Trade
Administration, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230; telephone:
[[Page 2253]]
(202) 482-0182 or (202) 482-0167, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Scope of the Investigation
The scope of this investigation covers dry xanthan gum, whether or
not coated or blended with other products. Further, xanthan gum is
included in this investigation regardless of physical form, including,
but not limited to, solutions, slurries, dry powders of any particle
size, or unground fiber.
Xanthan gum that has been blended with other product(s) is included
in this scope when the resulting mix contains 15 percent or more of
xanthan gum by dry weight. Other products with which xanthan gum may be
blended include, but are not limited to, sugars, minerals, and salts.
Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide produced by aerobic fermentation of
Xanthomonas campestris. The chemical structure of the repeating
pentasaccharide monomer unit consists of a backbone of two P-1,4-D-
Glucose monosaccharide units, the second with a trisaccharide side
chain consisting of P-D-Mannose-(1,4)- P-DGlucuronic acid-(1,2)-a-D-
Mannose monosaccharide units. The terminal mannose may be pyruvylated
and the internal mannose unit may be acetylated.
Merchandise covered by the scope of this investigation is
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States at
subheading 3913.90.20. This tariff classification is provided for
convenience and customs purposes; however, the written description of
the scope is dispositive.
Methodology
The Department has conducted this antidumping duty investigation in
accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export prices and constructed
export prices have been calculated in accordance with section 772 of
the Act. Because the PRC is a non-market economy within the meaning of
section 771(18) of the Act, normal value has been calculated in
accordance with section 773(c) of the Act. Specifically, the
respondents' factors of production (``FOPs'') have been valued using
data from Thailand, the primary surrogate country, which is
economically comparable to the PRC and is a significant producer of
comparable merchandise.
For a full description of the methodology underlying our
conclusions, see ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary Determination of
the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Xanthan Gum from the People's
Republic of China'' from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated concurrently with
this notice (``Preliminary Decision Memorandum'') and hereby adopted by
this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document
and is on file electronically via Import Administration's Antidumping
and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (``IA
ACCESS''). IA ACCESS is available to registered users at http://iaaccess.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can
be accessed directly on the Internet at http://www.trade.gov/ia/. The
signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic versions of
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
Preliminary Determination
The Department preliminarily determines that the following
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted
average
Exporter Producer dumping
margin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neimenggu Fufeng Biotechnologies Neimenggu Fufeng 21.69
Co., Ltd. (aka Inner Mongolia Biotechnologies Co.,
Fufeng Biotechnologies Co., Ltd. (aka Inner
Ltd.)/Shandong Fufeng Mongolia Fufeng
Fermentation Co., Ltd. Biotechnologies Co.,
Ltd.)/Shandong Fufeng
Fermentation Co., Ltd.
Deosen Biochemical Ltd........... Deosen Biochemical Ltd./ 127.65
Deosen Biochemical
(Ordos) Ltd.
A.H.A. International Co., Ltd.... Shandong Fufeng 74.67
Fermentation Co., Ltd.
A.H.A. International Co., Ltd.... Deosen Biochemical Ltd.. 74.67
CP Kelco (Shandong) Biological CP Kelco (Shandong) 74.67
Company Limited. Biological Company
Limited.
Hebei Xinhe Biochemical Co. Ltd.. Hebei Xinhe Biochemical 74.67
Co. Ltd.
Shanghai Smart Chemicals Co. Ltd. Deosen Biochemical Ltd.. 74.67
PRC-Wide Entity*................. ........................ 154.07
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The PRC-wide entity includes Shandong Yi Lian Cosmetics Co., Ltd.,
Shanghai Echem Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd., Sinotrans Xiamen Logistics
Co., Ltd., and Zibo Cargill HuangHelong Bioengineering Co., Ltd.
Disclosure and Public Comment
The Department will disclose calculations performed for this
preliminary determination to the parties within five days of the date
of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant
Secretary for Import Administration no later than seven days after the
date on which the final verification report is issued in this
proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline
date for case briefs.\1\ A table of contents, list of authorities used,
and an executive summary of issues should accompany any briefs
submitted to the Department. This summary should be limited to five
pages total, including footnotes.
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\1\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
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Interested parties, who wish to request a hearing, or to
participate if one is requested, must submit a written request to the
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, filed electronically using IA ACCESS. An electronically filed
document must be received successfully in its entirety by the
Department's electronic records system, IA ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern
Standard Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this
notice.\2\ Requests should contain the party's name, address, and
telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues
to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department
intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th
Street and Constitution Avenue NW.,
[[Page 2254]]
Washington, DC 20230, at a time and location to be determined. Parties
should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing
two days before the scheduled date.
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\2\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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For the final determination in this investigation, interested
parties may submit publicly available information to value the FOPs
within 40 days after the publication of this preliminary
determination.\3\ In accordance with 19 CFR 351.301(c)(1), for the
final determination of this investigation, interested parties may
submit factual information to rebut, clarify, or correct factual
information submitted by any other interested party less than ten days
before, on, or after, the applicable deadline for submission of such
factual information. However, the Department notes that 19 CFR
351.301(c)(1) permits new information only insofar as it rebuts,
clarifies, or corrects information recently placed on the record. The
Department generally will not accept the submission of additional,
previously absent-from-the-record alternative surrogate value
information.\4\ Additionally, for each piece of factual information
submitted with surrogate value rebuttal comments, the interested party
must provide a written explanation of what information that is already
on the record of the ongoing proceeding the factual information is
rebutting, clarifying, or correcting.
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\3\ See 19 CFR 351.301(c)(3)(i).
\4\ See Glycine from the People's Republic of China: Final
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Final
Rescission, in Part, 72 FR 58809 (October 17, 2007), and
accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2.
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Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional
Measures
Pursuant to requests from interested parties, we are postponing the
final determination and extending the provisional measures from a four-
month period to not more than six months. Accordingly, we will make our
final determination no later than 135 days after the date of
publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section
735(a)(2) of the Act.
Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 733(d) of the Act, the Department will
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to suspend
liquidation of all entries of xanthan gum from the PRC, as described in
the ``Scope of the Investigation'' section, entered or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption, on or after the date of publication of this
notice in the Federal Register.
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.205(d), the Department will instruct CBP to
require a cash deposit \5\ equal to the weighted-average amount by
which normal value exceeds U.S. price as follows: (1) The separate-rate
weighted-average dumping margin for the exporter/producer combinations
listed in the table above will be the rate the Department has
determined in this preliminary determination; (2) for all combinations
of PRC exporters/producers of merchandise under consideration which
have not received their own separate-rate weighted-average dumping
margin above, the cash-deposit rate will be the cash deposit rate
established for the PRC-wide entity; and (3) for all non-PRC exporters
of merchandise under consideration which have not received their own
separate rate above, the cash deposit rate will be the cash deposit
rate applicable to the PRC exporter/producer combination that supplied
that non-PRC exporter. These cash deposit instructions will remain in
effect until further notice.
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\5\ See Modification of Regulations Regarding the Practice of
Accepting Bonds During the Provisional Measures Period in
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations, 76 FR 61042
(October 3, 2011).
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International Trade Commission (``ITC'') Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the
ITC of our preliminary affirmative determination of sales at LTFV.
Section 735(b)(2) of the Act requires the ITC to make its final
determination as to whether the domestic industry in the United States
is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of
imports of xanthan gum, or sales (or the likelihood of sales) for
importation, of the merchandise under consideration within 45 days of
our final determination.
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
Dated: January 3, 2013.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
1. Scope of the Investigation
2. Respondent Selection
3. Non-Market Economy Country
4. Surrogate Country
a. Economic Comparability
b. Significant Producers of Identical or Comparable Merchandise
c. Data Availability
5. Surrogate Value Comments
6. Separate Rates
a. Separate Rate Respondents
b. Dumping Margin for the Separate Rate Companies
7. Date of Sale
8. Fair Value Comparisons
a. Export Price
b. Constructed Export Price
c. Normal Value
d. Factor Valuations
e. Currency Conversion
9. Determination Not to Apply an Alternative Comparison Methodology
10. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Facts Available
11. Corroboration of Secondary Information
12. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional
Measures
13. Verification
[FR Doc. 2013-00349 Filed 1-9-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P