Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 25745-25747 [2019-11588]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• International Trade Administration

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25745-25747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11588]



[[Page 25745]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-093]


Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs From the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, 
in Part, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of 
Provisional Measures

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that refillable stainless steel kegs (kegs) from the People's Republic 
of China (China) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United 
States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation 
(POI) is January 1, 2018, through June 30, 2018. Interested parties are 
invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

DATES: Applicable June 4, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Schauer or Aimee Phelan, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0410 or (202) 482-0697, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation 
on October 16, 2018.\1\ This preliminary determination is made in 
accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act). Commerce exercised its discretion to toll all deadlines 
affected by the partial federal government closure from December 22, 
2018, through the resumption of operations on January 29, 2019.\2\ On 
March 19, 2019, at the request of the petitioner, Commerce postponed 
the deadline for the preliminary determination until May 28, 2019.\3\
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    \1\ See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's 
Republic of China, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Mexico: 
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 83 FR 52195 
(October 16, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Memorandum to the Record from Gary Taverman, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, ``Deadlines 
Affected by the Partial Shutdown of the Federal Government,'' dated 
January 28, 2019. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding 
affected by the partial federal government closure have been 
extended by 40 days.
    \3\ See Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the Federal 
Republic of Germany, Mexico and the People's Republic of China: 
Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-
Value Investigations, 84 FR 10033 (March 19, 2019).
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\4\ A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum is included as Appendix II 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, and to all parties in the 
Central Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce 
building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/.
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    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of 
Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's Republic of 
China,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice 
(Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation are refillable stainless 
steel kegs from China. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\5\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (scope).\6\ Certain interested 
parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in 
the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments 
and rebuttal responses submitted to the record for this investigation, 
and a discussion and analysis of all comments timely received, see the 
Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\7\ The scope case briefs were 
due on May 6, 2019, 30 days after the publication of Kegs from China 
Preliminary CVD Determination.\8\ There will be no further opportunity 
for comments on scope-related issues. Commerce is preliminarily 
modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation 
Notice.\9\ See the revised scope in Appendix I to this notice.
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    \5\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \6\ See Initiation Notice, 83 FR at 52196.
    \7\ See Memorandum, ``Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the 
People's Republic of China, Germany, and Mexico: Scope Comments 
Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determinations,'' dated 
March 29, 2019 (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
    \8\ The scope case briefs were due 30 days after the publication 
of Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from the People's Republic of 
China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and 
Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty 
Determination, 84 FR 13634 (April 5, 2019) (Kegs from China 
Preliminary CVD Determination). See the Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum at 5. Because the deadline fell on Sunday, May 5, 2019, 
the actual deadline for the scope case briefs was Monday, May 6, 
2019. See 19 CFR 351.303(b)(1) (``For both electronically filed and 
manually filed documents, if the applicable due date falls on a non-
business day, the Secretary will accept documents that are filed on 
the next business day.''). The deadline for scope rebuttal briefs 
was Monday, May 13, 2019.
    \9\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 4; see also 
Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum at 15.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Commerce calculated export prices in accordance 
with section 772(a) of the Act. Constructed export prices were 
calculated in accordance with section 772(b) of the Act. Because China 
is a non-market economy country within the meaning of section 771(18) 
of the Act, Commerce calculated normal value (NV) in accordance with 
section 773(c) of the Act. In addition, pursuant to section 776(a) and 
(b) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily relied on facts otherwise 
available, with adverse inferences, for the China-wide entity. For a 
full description of the methodology underlying Commerce's preliminary 
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in 
Part

    On May 2, 2019, the petitioner filed a timely critical 
circumstances allegation with respect to imports of the subject 
merchandise from China.\10\ Section 733(e) of the Act provides that 
Commerce will preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist 
in a LTFV investigation if there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect that: (A) There is a history of dumping and material injury by 
reason of dumped imports in the United States or elsewhere of the 
subject merchandise, or the person by whom, or for whose account, the 
merchandise was imported knew or should have known that the

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exporter was selling the subject merchandise at less than its fair 
value and that there was likely to be material injury by reason of such 
sales; and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject 
merchandise over a relatively short period. We preliminarily find that 
critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of kegs from China 
for the China-wide entity, but do not exist for Ningbo Master 
International Trade Co., Ltd., or for the separate rate applicants, 
Ningbo Haishu Direct Import And Export Trade Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 
Jingye Machinery Co., Ltd., and Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading 
Co., Ltd. For a full description of the methodology and results of 
Commerce's critical circumstances analysis, see the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum.
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    \10\ See the petitioner's Letter, ``Refillable Stainless Steel 
Kegs from the People's Republic of China: Petitioner's Critical 
Cricumstances Allegation,'' dated May 2, 2019.
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Combination Rates

    In the Initiation Notice,\11\ we stated that we would calculate 
producer/exporter combination rates for the respondents that are 
eligible for a separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin 
05.1 describes this practice.\12\ In this investigation, we calculated 
producer/exporter combination rates for respondents eligible for 
separate rates.
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    \11\ See Initiation Notice at 52200.
    \12\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1, 
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination 
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy 
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (Policy Bulletin 05.1), available on 
Commerce's website at https://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Preliminary Determination

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins exist:

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                                                                                     Estimated     Cash deposit
                                                                                     weighted-    rate (adjusted
                                                                                      average       for subsidy
                   Exporter                                 Producer              dumping margin     offsets)
                                                                                    (percent ad     (percent ad
                                                                                     valorem)        valorem)
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Ningbo Master International Trade Co., Ltd....  Ningbo Major Draft Beer                     2.01            0.00
                                                 Equipment Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co., Ltd...........  Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co.,             2.01            0.00
                                                 Ltd.
Guangzhou Ulix Industrial & Trading Co., Ltd..  Guangzhou Jingye Machinery Co.,             2.01            0.00
                                                 Ltd.
Ningbo Haishu Direct Import and Export Trade    Ningbo Haishu Xiangsheng Metal              2.01            0.00
 Co., Ltd.                                       Products Plant.
China-Wide Entity.............................  ................................           79.71           66.89
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will 
direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation 
of entries of subject merchandise as described in Appendix I entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Section 733(e)(2) 
of the Act provides that, given an affirmative determination of 
critical circumstances, any suspension of liquidation shall apply to 
unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the later of: (a) The date which 
is 90 days before the date on which the suspension of liquidation was 
first ordered, or (b) the date on which notice of initiation of the 
investigation was published. We preliminarily find that critical 
circumstances exist with respect to imports of kegs from China for the 
China-wide entity. Therefore, in accordance with section 733(e)(2)(A) 
of the Act, the suspension of liquidation shall apply to all 
unliquidated entries of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, by the China-wide entity, for consumption on or after the 
date which is 90 days before the publication of this notice.
    Further, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.205(d), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal 
to the weighted-average amount by which NV exceeds U.S. price, as 
indicated in the chart above as follows: (1) For the exporter/producer 
combinations listed in the table above, the cash deposit rate is equal 
to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin listed for that 
combination in the table; (2) for all combinations of China producers/
exporters of merchandise under consideration that have not established 
eligibility for their own separate rates, the cash deposit rate will be 
equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for 
the China -wide entity; and (3) for all third-county exporters of 
merchandise under consideration not listed in the table above, the cash 
deposit rate is the cash deposit rate applicable to the China exporter/
producer combination (or the China-wide entity) that supplied that 
third-country exporter. These suspension of liquidation instructions 
will remain in effect until further notice.

Disclosure

    Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed 
in connection with this preliminary determination within five days of 
its public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within 
five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary 
determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b).

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
verify information relied upon in making its final determination.

Public Comment

    Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven 
days after the date on which the last final verification report is 
issued in this investigation.\13\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues 
raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after 
the deadline date for case briefs.\14\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) 
and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this 
investigation 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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    \13\ Case briefs, other written comments, and rebuttal briefs 
should not include scope-related issues. See ``Scope Comments'' 
section, supra.
    \14\ 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, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and

[[Page 25747]]

Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days after the date 
of publication of this notice. 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. If a request for a hearing is made, Commerce intends 
to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be 
determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and 
location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination 
may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the 
publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an 
affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement 
is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of 
exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative 
preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by 
the petitioner. Section 351.210(e)(2) of Commerce's regulations 
requires that a request by exporters for postponement of the final 
antidumping determination be accompanied by a request for extension of 
provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not more than 
six months in duration.
    On April 24, 2019, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(e), Ningbo Master 
International Trade Co., Ltd., requested that Commerce postpone the 
final determination and that provisional measures be extended to a 
period not to exceed six months.\15\ In accordance with section 
735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because (1) the 
preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters 
account for a significant proportion of exports of the subject 
merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist, Commerce 
is postponing the final determination and extending the provisional 
measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six 
months. Accordingly, Commerce's final determination will be published 
no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this 
preliminary determination.
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    \15\ See Letter from Ningbo Master International Trade Co., 
Ltd., ``Refillable Stainless Steel Kegs from People's Republic of 
China--Request for Extension of Final Determination and Provisional 
Measures,'' dated April 24, 2019.
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of its preliminary 
determination. If the 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 the final determination 
whether imports of the subject merchandise are materially injuring, or 
threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: May 28, 2019.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation are kegs, vessels, 
or containers with bodies that are approximately cylindrical in 
shape, made from stainless steel (i.e., steel containing at least 
10.5 percent chromium by weight and less than 1.2 percent carbon by 
weight, with or without other elements), and that are compatible 
with a ``D Sankey'' extractor (refillable stainless steel kegs) with 
a nominal liquid volume capacity of 10 liters or more, regardless of 
the type of finish, gauge, thickness, or grade of stainless steel, 
and whether or not covered by or encased in other materials. 
Refillable stainless steel kegs may be imported assembled or 
unassembled, with or without all components (including spears, 
couplers or taps, necks, collars, and valves), and be filled or 
unfilled.
    ``Unassembled'' or ``unfinished'' refillable stainless steel 
kegs include drawn stainless steel cylinders that have been welded 
to form the body of the keg and attached to an upper (top) chime 
and/or lower (bottom) chime. Unassembled refillable stainless steel 
kegs may or may not be welded to a neck, may or may not have a valve 
assembly attached, and may be otherwise complete except for testing, 
certification, and/or marking.
    Subject merchandise also includes refillable stainless steel 
kegs that have been further processed in a third country, including 
but not limited to, attachment of necks, collars, spears or valves, 
heat treatment, pickling, passivation, painting, testing, 
certification or any other processing that would not otherwise 
remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigation if 
performed in the country of manufacture of the in-scope refillable 
stainless steel keg.
    Specifically excluded are the following:
    (1) Vessels or containers that are not approximately cylindrical 
in nature (e.g., box, ``hopper'' or ``cone'' shaped vessels);
    (2) stainless steel kegs, vessels, or containers that have 
either a ``ball lock'' valve system or a ``pin lock'' valve system 
(commonly known as ``Cornelius,'' ``corny'' or ``ball lock'' kegs);
    (3) necks, spears, couplers or taps, collars, and valves that 
are not imported with the subject merchandise; and
    (4) stainless steel kegs that are filled with beer, wine, or 
other liquid and that are designated by the Commissioner of Customs 
as Instruments of International Traffic within the meaning of 
section 332(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
    The merchandise covered by this investigation are currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under subheadings 7310.10.0010, 7310.10.0050, 7310.29.0025, 
and 7310.29.0050.
    These HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs 
purposes; the written description of the scope of this investigation 
is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope Comments
V. Product Characteristics
VI. Selection of Respondents
VII. Discussion of the Methodology
    A. Non-Market Economy Country
    B. Surrogate Country
    C. Surrogate Value Comments
    D. Separate Rates
    E. Dumping Margin for the Separate Rate Companies
    F. Combination Rates
    G. China-Wide Entity
    H. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
    I. Date of Sale
    J. Comparisons to Fair Value
    K. U.S. Price
    L. Normal Value
    M. Factor Valuation Methodology
    N. Currency Conversion
VIII. Adjustment Under Section 777A(F) of the Act
IX. Critical Circumstances
X. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2019-11588 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P