Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures, 83392-83394 [2023-26231]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• International Trade Administration

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 228 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83392-83394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26231]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-552-835]


Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale From the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of Final Determination, and 
Extension of Provisional Measures

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale 
(boltless steel shelving) from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 
(Vietnam) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at 
less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is 
October 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited 
to comment on this preliminary determination.

DATES: Applicable November 29, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eliza DeLong or Eric Hawkins, 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) 482-3878 or (202) 482-1988, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce 
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on May 19, 
2023.\1\ On September 14, 2023, Commerce postponed the preliminary 
determination of this investigation until November 21, 2023.\2\
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    \1\ See Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale from 
India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 88 FR 
32188 (May 19, 2023) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale from 
India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Socialist Republic of 
Vietnam: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the Less-
Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 88 FR 63063 (September 14, 2023).
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\3\ A list of topics discussed 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. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation 
of Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale from the 
Socialist Republic of Vietnam,'' 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 is boltless steel 
shelving from Vietnam. For a complete description of the scope of this 
investigation, see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\4\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\5\ 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 preliminary 
determination, and accompanying discussion and analysis of all comments 
timely received, see the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\6\ As 
discussed in the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum, Commerce 
preliminarily did not modify the scope language as it appeared in the 
Initiation Notice. In the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum, 
Commerce established deadlines for parties to submit scope case and 
rebuttal briefs as well as a deadline to request a hearing on issues 
raised in the scope briefs.
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    \4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 62 FR 27296, 
27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \5\ See Initiation Notice, 88 FR at 32189.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum,'' 
dated November 13, 2023 (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Commerce has calculated export prices in 
accordance with section 772(a) of the Act. Because Vietnam is a non-
market economy country, within the meaning of section 771(18) of the 
Act, Commerce has calculated normal value in accordance with section 
773(c) of the Act.
    Furthermore, pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, 
Commerce preliminarily has relied upon facts otherwise available, with 
adverse inferences, to assign a dumping margin for the Vietnam-wide 
entity. Further, we are preliminarily not individually examining Thanh 
Phong Production and Trade Limited Company as a mandatory respondent 
because it did not have any sales of subject merchandise during the 
POI. For a full description of the methodology underlying Commerce's 
preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Vietnam-Wide Entity

    Commerce finds that two companies, Cuong Nghia Imp. Exp. and 
Parkway Thanh Phong Co., have not established eligibility for a 
separate rate and are considered to be part of the Vietnam-wide entity 
for the preliminary determination.

Combination Rates

    In the Initiation Notice,\7\ Commerce stated that it 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.\8\ In this investigation, we assigned 
producer/exporter combination rates for Xinguang (Vietnam) Logistic 
Equipment Co., Ltd (Xinguang Vietnam), i.e., the sole respondent 
eligible for a separate rate.
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    \7\ See Initiation Notice, 88 FR at 32188.
    \8\ 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://access.trade.gov/Resources/policy/bull05-1.pdf.

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[[Page 83393]]

Preliminary Determination

    For the period October 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023, Commerce 
preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average 
dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Estimated
                                                             weighted-
             Exporter                     Producer            average
                                                          dumping margin
                                                             (percent)
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Xinguang (Vietnam) Logistic         Xinguang (Vietnam)            118.66
 Equipment Co., Ltd.                 Logistic Equipment
                                     Co., Ltd.
Vietnam-Wide Entity...............  ....................      \9\ 224.94
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suspension of Liquidation
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    \9\ The Vietnam-Wide rate based on facts available with adverse 
inferences.
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    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. 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 normal value exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the 
chart above, as follows: (1) for the producer/exporter combination 
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 Vietnam producers/exporters 
of subject merchandise 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 Vietnam-
wide entity; and (3) for all third-county exporters of subject 
merchandise not listed in the table above, the cash deposit rate is the 
cash deposit rate applicable to the Vietnam producer/exporter 
combination (or the Vietnam-wide entity) that supplied that third-
country exporter. These suspension of liquidation instructions will 
remain in effect until further notice.

Disclosure

    Commerce intends to disclose 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 this notice 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 final verification report is issued in 
this investigation.\10\ 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.\11\ 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.\12\
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    \10\ Case briefs and rebuttal briefs submitted in response to 
this preliminary LTFV determination should not include scope-related 
issues. See Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.
    \11\ 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 Final Rule).
    \12\ 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 investigation, we instead request 
that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a 
public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\13\ 
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 determination in this investigation. 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).\14\
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    \13\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \14\ See APO and Service Final Rule.
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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, 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 a date and time 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. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(e)(2), Commerce requires 
that requests by respondents for postponement of a 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.

[[Page 83394]]

    On November 3, 2023, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(e), Edsal 
Manufacturing Co., Inc. (the petitioner), requested that Commerce 
postpone the final determination and that provisional measures be 
extended to a period not to exceed 135 days.\15\ On November 20, 2023, 
Xinguang Vietnam also requested that Commerce postpone the final 
determination and that provisional measures be extended to a period not 
to exceed 135 days.\16\ 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 exporter accounts 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 issued no later than 135 days 
after the date of publication of this preliminary determination.
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    \15\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Petitioner's Request for 
Postponement of Final Determination,'' dated November 3, 2023.
    \16\ See Xinguang Vietnam's Letter, ``Request to Extend Final 
Results,'' dated November 20, 2023.
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of its preliminary 
determination of sales at LTFV. 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: November 21, 2023.
Abdelali Elouaradia,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of this investigation covers boltless steel shelving 
units prepackaged for sale, with or without decks (boltless steel 
shelving). The term ``prepackaged for sale'' means that, at a 
minimum, the steel vertical supports (i.e., uprights and posts) and 
steel horizontal supports (i.e., beams, braces) necessary to 
assemble a completed shelving unit (with or without decks) are 
packaged together for ultimate purchase by the end-user. The scope 
also includes add-on kits. Add-on kits include, but are not limited 
to, kits that allow the end-user to add an extension shelving unit 
onto an existing boltless steel shelving unit such that the 
extension and the original unit will share common frame elements 
(e.g., two posts). The term ``boltless'' refers to steel shelving in 
which the vertical and horizontal supports forming the frame are 
assembled primarily without the use of nuts and bolts, or screws. 
The vertical and horizontal support members for boltless steel 
shelving are assembled by methods such as, but not limited to, 
fitting a rivet, punched or cut tab, or other similar connector on 
one support into a hole, slot or similar receptacle on another 
support. The supports lock together to form the frame for the 
shelving unit and provide the structural integrity of the shelving 
unit separate from the inclusion of any decking. The incidental use 
of nuts and bolts, or screws to add accessories, wall anchors, tie-
bars or shelf supports does not remove the product from scope. 
Boltless steel shelving units may also come packaged as partially 
assembled, such as when two upright supports are welded together 
with front-to-back supports, or are otherwise connected, to form an 
end unit for the frame. The boltless steel shelving covered by this 
investigation may be commonly described as rivet shelving, welded 
frame shelving, slot and tab shelving, and punched rivet (quasi-
rivet) shelving as well as by other trade names. The term ``deck'' 
refers to the shelf that sits on or fits into the horizontal 
supports (beams or braces) to provide the horizontal storage surface 
of the shelving unit.
    The scope includes all boltless steel shelving meeting the 
description above, regardless of: (1) vertical support or post type 
(including but not limited to open post, closed post and tubing); 
(2) horizontal support or beam/brace profile (including but not 
limited to Z-beam, C-beam, L-beam, step beam and cargo rack); (3) 
number of supports; (4) surface coating (including but not limited 
to paint, epoxy, powder coating, zinc and other metallic coating); 
(5) number of levels; (6) weight capacity; (7) shape (including but 
not limited to rectangular, square, and corner units); (8) decking 
material (including but not limited to wire decking, particle board, 
laminated board or no deck at all); or (9) the boltless method by 
which vertical and horizontal supports connect (including but not 
limited to keyhole and rivet, slot and tab, welded frame, punched 
rivet and clip).
    Specifically excluded from the scope are:
     Wall-mounted shelving, defined as shelving that is hung 
on the wall and does not stand on, or transfer load to, the floor. 
The addition of a wall bracket or other device to attach otherwise 
freestanding subject merchandise to a wall does not meet the terms 
of this exclusion;
     Wire shelving units, which consist of shelves made from 
wire that incorporates both a wire deck and wire horizontal supports 
(taking the place of the horizontal beams and braces) into a single 
piece with tubular collars that slide over the posts and onto 
plastic sleeves snapped on the posts to create the finished shelving 
unit;
     Bulk-packed parts or components of boltless steel 
shelving units; and
     Made-to-order shelving systems.
    Subject boltless steel shelving enters the United States through 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) statistical 
subheading 9403.20.0075. While the HTSUS subheading is provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the 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. Scope of the Investigation
VI. Selection of Respondents
VII. Discussion of the Methodology
VIII. Currency Conversion
IX. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2023-26231 Filed 11-28-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P