Non-Refillable Steel Cylinders From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results, Partial Rescission, and Intent To Rescind, in Part, of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2022-2023

AGENCY:

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

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that certain producers and or/exporters made sales of non-refillable steel cylinders (non-refillable cylinders) at less than normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR) May 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023. Additionally, Commerce is rescinding this administrative review with respect to certain companies, and Commerce intends to rescind the review, in part, with respect to one company. Interested parties are invited to comment on the preliminary results of this review.

DATES:

Applicable June 6, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alex Cipolla, AD/CVD Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4956.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On July 12, 2023, in response to review requests from multiple parties, Commerce published the notice of initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on non-refillable cylinders from China, covering four companies. On September 22, 2023, we selected Wuyi Xilinde Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (Wuyi Xilinde) and Sanjiang Kai Yuan Co. Ltd. (SKY) as mandatory respondents. On September 26, 2023, Worthing Industries (the petitioner) timely withdrew the sole review request for SKY. On January 10, 2024, we extended the deadline for these preliminary results of review until May 30, 2024.

For a summary of the events that occurred since the initiation of this review and the analysis for these preliminary results, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 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. A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as an appendix to this notice.

Scope of the Order

The products covered by this Order are certain seamed (welded or brazed), non-refillable steel cylinders meeting the requirements of, or produced to meet the requirements of, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Specification 39, TransportCanada Specification 39M, or United Nations pressure receptacle standard ISO 11118. A full description of the scope of the Order is provided in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

Commerce is conducting this administrative review in accordance with section 751(a)(1)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). We calculated export prices for Wuyi Xilinde Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd. (Wuyi Xilinde) in accordance with section 772(a) of the Act. Because China is a non-market economy (NME) country within the meaning of section 771(18) of the Act, we calculated NV in accordance with section 773(c) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Rescission of Review, in Part

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an administrative review, in whole or in part, if the party that requested a review withdraws its request within 90 days of the date of publication of the notice of initiation. The sole request for an administrative review of SKY was timely withdrawn within 90 days of the publication of the Initiation Notice. As a result, Commerce is rescinding this review with respect to SKY in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1).

Additionally, pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, there must be a suspended POR entry on which duties may be assessed. On July 25, 2023, Commerce placed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) entry data during the POR on the record for respondent selection purposes. On May 11, 2024, Commerce notified interested parties of its intent to rescind this review with respect to Zhejiang Kin-Shine Technology Co., Ltd. (Kin-Shine), as it did not have suspended entries during the POR. No parties commented on our intent to rescind. As such, Commerce is rescinding this review with respect to Kin-Shine in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3).

Intent To Rescind, in Part

As noted above, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), it is Commerce's practice to rescind an administrative review of an antidumping duty order where it determines that there were no suspended entries of subject merchandise during the POR. Normally, upon completion of an administrative review, the suspended entries are liquidated at the antidumping duty assessment rate for the review period. Therefore, for an administrative review to be conducted, there must be a suspended entry that Commerce can instruct CBP to liquidate at the calculated antidumping duty assessment rate for the review period.

As discussed in greater detail in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, the POR entry totals reflected in the data query provided at Attachment 1 of the CBP Data Memorandum reflected no POR entries of subject merchandise from Ningbo Eagle Machinery & Technology Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Eagle). In the absence of any suspended entries of subject merchandise from Ningbo Eagle during the POR, Commerce hereby notifies all interested parties of its intent to rescind this administrative review with respect to this company. Commerce is providing interested parties with an opportunity to submit comments on this preliminary decision, including factual information. Comments, including factual information, from interested parties are due to Commerce no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on June 7, 2024. Rebuttal comments, including rebuttal factual information, are due seven days thereafter, by 5:00 p.m. ET on June 14, 2024. All submissions must be filed electronically at https://access.trade.gov in accordance with 19 CFR 351.303.

China-Wide Entity

Under Commerce's policy regarding the conditional review of the China-wide entity, the China-wide entity will not be under review unless a party specifically requests, or Commerce self-initiates, a review of the entity. Because no party requested a review of the China-wide entity in this review, the entity is not under review, and the entity's rate ( i.e., 112.21 percent) is not subject to change.

Preliminary Results of Review

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margin exists for the period May 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023:

Disclosure

Commerce intends to disclose to parties to the proceeding the calculations performed for these preliminary results of review within five days of the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Public Comment

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c), interested parties may submit case briefs or other written comments to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. 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. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(d)(2), rebuttal briefs must be limited to issues raised in the case briefs. 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.

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 administrative review, we instead request that interested parties provide, at the beginning of their briefs, a public executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. Further, we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final results of this administrative review. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the public 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).

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 publication of this notice. Requests should contain the party's name, address, 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 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.

All submissions, including case and rebuttal briefs, as well as hearing requests, should be filed via ACCESS. An electronically filed document must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the established deadline.

Final Results of Review

Unless extended, Commerce intends to issue the final results of this review, including the results of its analysis of the issues raised in any written briefs, no later than 120 days after the date of publication of this notice, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h).

Assessment Rates

Upon issuing the final results, Commerce will determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review. Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier than 35 days after the date of publication of the final results of this review in the Federal Register . If a timely summons is filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment instructions will direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties to file a request for a statutory injunction has expired ( i.e., within 90 days of publication).

We will calculate importer/customer-specific assessment rates equal to the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for examined sales to a particular importer/customer to the total entered value of those sales, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). Where the respondent reported reliable entered values, Commerce intends to calculate importer/customer-specific ad valorem assessment rates by dividing the total amount of dumping calculated for all reviewed U.S. sales to the importer/customer by the total entered value of the merchandise sold to the importer/customer. Where the respondent did not report entered values, Commerce will calculate importer/customer-specific assessment rates by dividing the total amount of dumping calculated for all reviewed U.S. sales to the importer/customer by the total quantity of those sales. Commerce will calculate an estimated ad valorem importer/customer-specific assessment rate to determine whether the per-unit assessment rate is de minimis; however, Commerce will use the per-unit assessment rate where entered values were not reported. Where an importer/customer-specific ad valorem assessment rate is not zero or de minimis, Commerce will instruct CBP to collect the appropriate duties at the time of liquidation. Where either the respondent's ad valorem weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de minimis, or an importer/customer-specific ad valorem assessment rate is zero or de minimis, Commerce will instruct CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping duties.

Pursuant to Commerce's refinement to its practice, for sales that were not reported in the U.S. sales database submitted by a respondent individually examined during this review, Commerce will instruct CBP to liquidate the entry of such merchandise at the dumping margin assigned to the China-wide entity.

In accordance with section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, the final results of this review shall be the basis for the assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by the final results of this review and for future deposits of estimated antidumping duties, where applicable.

Cash Deposit Requirements

The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon publication of the final results of this review for shipments of the subject merchandise from China entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date, as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) for the subject merchandise exported by the company listed above that has a separate rate, the cash deposit rate will be equal to the weighted-average dumping margin established in the final results of this administrative review (except, if the rate is zero or de minimis, then zero cash deposit will be required); (2) for previously investigated or reviewed Chinese and non-Chinese exporters not listed above that received a separate rate in a prior segment of this proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the existing exporter-specific rate; (3) for all Chinese exporters of subject merchandise that have not been found to be entitled to a separate rate, the cash deposit rate will be that for the China-wide entity; and (4) for all non-Chinese exporters of subject merchandise which have not received their own rate, the cash deposit rate will be the rate applicable to the Chinese exporter that supplied that non-Chinese exporter. These deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice.

Notification to Importers

This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during these PORs. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties, and/or an increase in the amount of antidumping duties by the amount of the countervailing duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

Commerce is issuing and publishing the preliminary results of this review in accordance with sections 751(a)(1)(B), 751(a)(3) and 777(i) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(4) and 351.221(b)(4).

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary

II. Background

III. Scope of the Order

IV. Rescission of the Review, in Part

V. Intent To Rescind Review, in Part

VI. Discussion of the Methodology

VII. Currency Conversion

VIII. Recommendation