Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Brazil, India, the People's Republic of China, Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Orders

AGENCY:

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY:

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty orders on certain frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from Brazil, India, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and of material injury to an industry in the United States within a reasonably foreseeable time, the Department is publishing notice of the continuation of these antidumping duty orders.

DATES:

Effective Date: April 29, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kate Johnson or David Goldberger, AD/CVD Operations, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4929 or (202) 482-4136, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On January 4, 2010, the Department initiated and the ITC instituted sunset reviews of the antidumping duty orders on shrimp from Brazil, India, the PRC, Thailand, and Vietnam, pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). See Initiation of Five-Year (“Sunset”) Review, 75 FR 103 (January 4, 2010), and Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Brazil, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam, 75 FR 1078 (January 8, 2010).

The Department conducted expedited sunset reviews of the antidumping duty orders from Brazil, India, the PRC, and Thailand. As a result of its reviews, the Department found that revocation of the antidumping duty orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and notified the ITC of the magnitude of the margins likely to prevail were the orders to be revoked. See Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Brazil, India, the People's Republic of China, and Thailand: Final Results of the Expedited Sunset Reviews of the Antidumping Duty Orders, 75 FR 27299 (May 14, 2010). With respect to Vietnam, the Department conducted a full sunset review of the antidumping duty order and also found that revocation of the antidumping duty order would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and notified the ITC of the magnitude of the margins likely to prevail if the order were to be revoked. See Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Final Results of the First Five-year “Sunset” Review of the Antidumping Duty Order, 75 FR 75965 (December 7, 2010).

Prior to the completion of the sunset reviews by the Department, on April 14, 2010, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) sustained the remand redetermination issued by the Department pursuant to the CIT's remand order, which found that dusted shrimp should be included within the scope of the antidumping duty investigations of certain frozen warmwater shrimp from Brazil, Ecuador, India, the PRC, Thailand, and Vietnam. On September 2, 2010, the Department published in the Federal Register the amended final determinations of certain frozen warmwater shrimp from Brazil, India, the PRC, Thailand, and Vietnam.

On April 5, 2011, the ITC published its determination pursuant to section 751(c) of the Act, that revocation of the antidumping duty orders on shrimp from Brazil, India, the PRC, Thailand, and Vietnam would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to an industry in the United States within a reasonably foreseeable time. See Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Brazil, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam, 76 FR 18782 (April 5, 2011). The ITC also found the domestic like product to include dusted shrimp. See id. at footnote 22. On April 18, 2011, the Department amended the antidumping duty orders to include dusted shrimp within the scope of the orders.

Scope of the Orders

The scope of the orders includes certain warmwater shrimp and prawns, whether frozen, wild-caught (ocean harvested) or farm-raised (produced by aquaculture), head-on or head-off, shell-on or peeled, tail-on or tail-off, deveined or not deveined, cooked or raw, or otherwise processed in frozen form.

The frozen warmwater shrimp and prawn products included in the scope of these orders, regardless of definitions in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTS”), are products which are processed from warmwater shrimp and prawns through freezing and which are sold in any count size.

The products described above may be processed from any species of warmwater shrimp and prawns. Warmwater shrimp and prawns are generally classified in, but are not limited to, the Penaeidae family. Some examples of the farmed and wild-caught warmwater species include, but are not limited to, whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannemei), banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis), fleshy prawn (Penaeus chinensis), giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon), redspotted shrimp (Penaeus brasiliensis), southern brown shrimp (Penaeus subtilis), southern pink shrimp (Penaeus notialis), southern rough shrimp (Trachypenaeus curvirostris), southern white shrimp (Penaeus schmitti), blue shrimp (Penaeus stylirostris), western white shrimp (Penaeus occidentalis), and Indian white prawn (Penaeus indicus).

Frozen shrimp and prawns that are packed with marinade, spices or sauce are included in the scope of these orders. In addition, food preparations (including dusted shrimp), which are not “prepared meals,” that contain more than 20 percent by weight of shrimp or prawn are also included in the scope of these orders.

Excluded from the scope are: (1) Breaded shrimp and prawns (HTS subheading 1605.20.10.20); (2) shrimp and prawns generally classified in the Pandalidae family and commonly referred to as coldwater shrimp, in any state of processing; (3) fresh shrimp and prawns whether shell-on or peeled (HTS subheadings 0306.23.00.20 and 0306.23.00.40); (4) shrimp and prawns in prepared meals (HTS subheading 1605.20.05.10); (5) dried shrimp and prawns; (6) Lee Kum Kee's shrimp sauce; (7) canned warmwater shrimp and prawns (HTS subheading 1605.20.10.40); and 8) certain battered shrimp. Battered shrimp is a shrimp-based product: (1) That is produced from fresh (or thawed-from-frozen) and peeled shrimp; (2) to which a “dusting” layer of rice or wheat flour of at least 95 percent purity has been applied; (3) with the entire surface of the shrimp flesh thoroughly and evenly coated with the flour; (4) with the non-shrimp content of the end product constituting between four and 10 percent of the product's total weight after being dusted, but prior to being frozen; and (5) that is subjected to individually quick frozen (“IQF”) freezing immediately after application of the dusting layer. When dusted in accordance with the definition of dusting above, the battered shrimp product is also coated with a wet viscous layer containing egg and/or milk, and par-fried.

The products covered by these orders are currently classified under the following HTS subheadings: 0306.13.00.03, 0306.13.00.06, 0306.13.00.09, 0306.13.00.12, 0306.13.00.15, 0306.13.00.18, 0306.13.00.21, 0306.13.00.24, 0306.13.00.27, 0306.13.00.40, 1605.20.10.10, and 1605.20.10.30. These HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and for customs purposes only and are not dispositive, but rather the written description of the scope of these orders is dispositive.

Continuation of the Orders

As a result of the determinations by the Department and the ITC that revocation of the antidumping duty orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, pursuant to section 751(d)(2) of the Act, the Department hereby orders the continuation of the antidumping duty orders on shrimp from Brazil, India, the PRC, Thailand, and Vietnam.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue to collect antidumping duty cash deposits at the rates in effect at the time of entry for all imports of subject merchandise.

The effective date of continuation of these orders will be the date of publication in the Federal Register of this notice of Continuation. Pursuant to section 751(c)(2) of the Act, the Department intends to initiate the next five-year reviews of these orders not later than March 2016.

These five-year (sunset) reviews and this notice are in accordance with sections 751(c) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.