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AGENCY:
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain alkyl phosphate esters (alkyl phosphate esters) from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of investigation is January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
DATES:
Applicable October 4, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Benjamin Nathan or Gregory Taushani, AD/CVD Operations, Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3834 or (202) 482-1012, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on May 13, 2024. On July 5, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation until September 20, 2024. On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this proceeding by seven days. The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 27, 2024.
See Certain Alkyl Phosphate Esters from the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation, 89 FR 43821 (May 20, 2024) ( Initiation Notice).
See Alkyl Phosphate Esters from the People's Republic of China: Postponement of Preliminary Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation, 89 FR 55585 (July 5, 2024).
See Memorandum, “Tolling of Deadlines,” dated July 22, 2024.
For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 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 .
See Memorandum, “Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Affirmative Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Alkyl Phosphate Esters from the People's Republic of China,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
Scope of the Investigation
The products covered by this investigation are alkyl phosphate esters 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, in the Initiation Notice Commerce set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). Certain interested parties commented on the scope of the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce intends to issue its preliminary decision regarding comments concerning the scope of the AD and CVD investigation on or before the preliminary determination of the companion AD investigation.
See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) ( Preamble).
See Initiation Notice.
Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an “authority” that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is specific. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
Commerce notes that, in making these findings, it relied, in part, on facts available, and, because it finds that one or more respondents did not act to the best of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for information, it drew an adverse inference where appropriate in selecting from among the facts otherwise available. For further information, see the “Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences” section in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
Alignment
In accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), Commerce is aligning the final CVD determination in this investigation with the final determination in the concurrent less than fair value (LTFV) investigation of alkyl phosphate esters from China based on a request made by ICL-IP America, Inc., the petitioner. Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued on the same date as the final LTFV determination, which is currently scheduled to be issued no later than February 9, 2025, unless postponed.
See Petitioners' Letter, “Request for Alignment of the Countervailing Duty Investigation with the Concurrent Antidumping Duty Investigation,” dated September 13, 2024.
All-Others Rate
Sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that in the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for companies not individually examined. This rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated subsidy rates established for those companies individually examined, excluding any zero and de minimis rates and any rates based entirely under section 776 of the Act.
In this investigation, Commerce preliminarily calculated individual estimated countervailable subsidy rates for Anhui RunYue Technology Co., Ltd. (Anhui) and Zhejiang Wansheng Co., Ltd. (Zhejiang Wansheng) that are not zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts otherwise available. Commerce calculated the all-others rate using a weighted-average of the individual estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents using each company's publicly ranged values for the merchandise under consideration.
With two respondents under examination, Commerce normally calculates: (A) a weighted-average of the estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents; (B) a simple average of the estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents; and (C) a weighted-average of the estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents using each company's publicly-ranged U.S. sales values for the merchandise under consideration. Commerce then compares (B) and (C) to (A) and selects the rate closest to (A) as the most appropriate rate for all other producers and exporters. As complete publicly ranged sales data were available, Commerce based the all-others rate on the publicly ranged sales data of the mandatory respondents. For a complete analysis of the data, see Memorandum, “Calculation of Subsidy Rate for All Others,” dated concurrently with this notice.
Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated countervailable subsidy rates exist:
As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Commerce preliminarily finds Anhui to be cross owned with the following company: Yixing RunYue Enterprise Management Co., Ltd.
As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Commerce preliminarily finds Zhejiang Wansheng to be cross-owned with two companies. Because all information pertaining to these cross-owned companies is business proprietary information, the calculated subsidy rate is only applicable to Zhejiang Wansheng.
Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis performed to interested parties in this preliminary determination within five days of its public announcement, or if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).