[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 217 (Wednesday, November 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78776-78777]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26984]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-049]
Ammonium Sulfate From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (``the Department'')
preliminarily determines that ammonium sulfate from the People's
Republic of China (``PRC'') is, or is likely to be, sold in the United
States at less than fair value (``LTFV''). The period of investigation
(``POI'') is October 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016. Interested
parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Effective November 9, 2016.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maliha Khan or Thomas Martin, AD/CVD
Operations, Office IV, Enforcement & Compliance, International Trade
Administration, Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0892 or (202) 482-3936
respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 25, 2016, PCI Nitrogen, LLC, filed a
petition with the Department of Commerce alleging that an industry in
the United States is materially injured or threatened with material
injury by reason of LTFV imports of certain ammonium sulfate from the
PRC. The Department published the notice of initiation of this
investigation on June 22, 2016.\1\ For a complete description of the
events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see
Preliminary Decision Memorandum hereby adopted by this notice.\2\ 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,
and to all parties in the Central Records Unit located at Room B8024 of
the Department's main building. In addition, a complete version of the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be found at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum
and electronic version of Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical
in content.
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\1\ See Ammonium Sulfate from the People's Republic of China:
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation, 81 FR 40665 (June
22, 2016) (``Initiation Notice'').
\2\ See Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination of
the Less Than Fair Value Investigation of Ammonium Sulfate from the
People's Republic of China (``Preliminary Decision Memorandum''),
dated concurrently with this notice. See also Appendix I.
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Period of Investigation
The POI is October 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016. This period
corresponds to the two most recent fiscal quarters prior to the month
of the filing of the petition, May 2016. See 19 CFR 351.204(b)(1).
Scope of the Investigation
The product covered by this investigation is ammonium sulfate from
the PRC. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation,
see Appendix II.
In accordance with the Preamble to the Department's regulations,\3\
and as stated in the Initiation Notice, the Department set aside a
period for interested parties to raise issues regarding the scope. The
Department did not receive any comments in response.
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\3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 62 FR 27296,
27323 (May 19, 1997) (``Preamble'').
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Discussion of Methodology
The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. For purposes of this preliminary LTFV
determination, the Department continues to treat the PRC as a non-
market economy country within the meaning of section 771(18) of the
Act. Because none of the potential respondents in this investigation
submitted separate rate applications, they are considered to be part of
the PRC-wide entity. Further, the PRC-wide entity did not provide
necessary quantity-and-value (``Q&V'') data the Department requested.
Therefore, in making this preliminary determination and in accordance
with sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, because respondents failed to
cooperate by not acting to the best of their ability to respond to the
Department's requests for information, we are drawing an adverse
inference in selecting a rate from among the facts otherwise available
(``AFA'') in determining the dumping margin for the PRC-wide entity.
For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions,
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Preliminary Determination
In selecting an AFA rate, the Department selects a rate that is
sufficiently adverse to ensure that the uncooperative party does not
obtain a more favorable result by failing to cooperate than if it had
fully cooperated. In an investigation, the Department's practice with
respect to the assignment of an AFA rate is to select the higher of (1)
the highest dumping margin alleged in the petition or (2) the highest
calculated dumping margin of any respondent in the investigation.\4\
Therefore, as AFA, the Department preliminarily assigns the highest
available petition margin of 493.46 percent as the rate applicable to
the PRC-wide entity.
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\4\ See, e.g., Certain Uncoated Paper From Indonesia: Final
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 81 FR 3101 (January
20, 2016).
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Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, the Department
will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to suspend
liquidation of all entries of ammonium sulfate 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.
We will also instruct CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the
Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), to require for all PRC exporters/producers
of merchandise under consideration, and all non-PRC exporters of
merchandise under consideration, the cash deposit rate established for
the PRC-wide entity, 493.46 percent.\5\ The suspension of liquidation
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,
64137 (October 3, 2011).
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Disclosure and Public Comment
The Department ordinarily discloses the calculations performed in
the investigation to interested parties in accordance with 19 CFR
351.224(b), however, in this proceeding there are no calculations to
disclose. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for
[[Page 78777]]
Enforcement and Compliance 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.\6\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), 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.
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\6\ See 19 CFR 351.309. See also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general
filing requirements).
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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, U.S. Department of Commerce,
filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically filed document
must be received successfully in its entirety by the Department's
electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, within 30
days after the date of publication of this notice.\7\ Hearing requests
should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the
number of participants, and a list of the issues parties intend to
present at the hearing. If a request for a hearing is made, the
Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., 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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\7\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we will notify the
International Trade Commission (``ITC'') of our affirmative preliminary
determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is
affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after
the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final
determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or
threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(I) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).
Dated: November 1, 2016.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum
1. Summary
2. Background
3. Period of Investigation
4. Scope Comments
5. Scope of the Investigation
6. Selection of Respondents
7. Discussion of the Methodology
8. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates for Export Subsidies in
Companion Countervailing Duty Investigation
9. Public Comment
10. U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
11. Conclusion
Appendix II--Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise covered by this investigation is ammonium
sulfate in all physical forms, with or without additives such as
anti-caking agents. Ammonium sulfate, which may also be spelled as
ammonium sulphate, has the chemical formula
(NH4)2SO4.
The scope includes ammonium sulfate that is combined with other
products, including by, for example, blending (i.e., mixing granules
of ammonium sulfate with granules of one or more other products),
compounding (i.e., when ammonium sulfate is compacted with one or
more other products under high pressure), or granulating
(incorporating multiple products into granules through, e.g., a
slurry process). For such combined products, only the ammonium
sulfate component is covered by the scope of this investigation.
Ammonium sulfate that has been combined with other products is
included within the scope regardless of whether the combining occurs
in countries other than China.
Ammonium sulfate that is otherwise subject to this investigation
is not excluded when commingled (i.e., mixed or combined) with
ammonium sulfate from sources not subject to this investigation.
Only the subject component of such commingled products is covered by
the scope of this investigation.
The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry number for
ammonium sulfate is 7783-20-2.
The merchandise covered by this investigation is currently
classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) subheading 3102.21.0000. Although this HTSUS subheading and
CAS registry number are provided for convenience and customs
purposes, the written description of the scope of the investigation
is dispositive.
[FR Doc. 2016-26984 Filed 11-8-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P