[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 239 (Friday, December 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80009-80011]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27316]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-893-001, A-400-001]


Silicon Metal From Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland: 
Preliminary Affirmative Determinations of Sales at Less Than Fair Value

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that silicon metal from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) and Iceland is 
being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair 
value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2019 
through March 31, 2020. The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are 
shown in the ``Preliminary Determinations'' section of this notice. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
determinations.

DATES: Applicable December 11, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Galantucci at (202) 482-2923 
(Bosnia); and Emily Halle at (202) 482-0176 (Iceland), Enforcement and 
Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Commerce published the notice of initiation of these investigations 
on July 27, 2020.\1\ R-S Silicon D.O.O. (R-S Silicon) is the sole 
mandatory respondent in the investigation covering silicon metal from 
Bosnia; PCC Bakki Silicon hf (PCC Bakki) is the sole mandatory 
respondent in the investigation covering silicon metal from Iceland. 
For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation 
of these investigations, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\2\ 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 made available to the public 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 http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed and the electronic 
versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in 
content.
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    \1\ See Silicon Metal from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, and 
Malaysia: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 85 FR 
45177 (July 27, 2020) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations of Silicon 
Metal from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland,'' dated concurrently 
with, and hereby adopted by, this notice.
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Scope of the Investigations

    The product covered by these investigations is silicon metal. For a 
full description of the scope of these investigations, see the ``Scope 
of the Investigations,'' in Appendix I of this notice. Scope Comments
    In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\3\ the 
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\4\ However, Commerce 
received no comments on the scope of these investigations from 
interested parties.
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    \3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
    \4\ See Initiation Notice, 85 FR at 45177.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting these investigations in accordance with 
section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Pursuant 
to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, Commerce has preliminarily 
relied upon facts otherwise available to assign dumping margins to R-S 
Silicon and PCC Bakki in these investigations because neither 
respondent submitted a response to Commerce's antidumping duty 
questionnaire. Further, Commerce is preliminarily determining that R-S 
Silicon and PCC Bakki failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of 
their abilities to comply with a request for information and is using 
an adverse inference when selecting from among

[[Page 80010]]

the facts otherwise available (i.e., applying adverse facts available 
(AFA)) to R-S Silicon and PCC Bakki, in accordance with section 776(b) 
of Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
preliminary determinations, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Critical Circumstances

    On October 20, 2020, the petitioners \5\ timely filed a critical 
circumstances allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 
19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), alleging that critical circumstances exist with 
respect to imports of the subject merchandise from Iceland.\6\ On 
November 5, 2020, Commerce determined the allegation was insufficient 
and informed the petitioners that we had no basis to pursue the 
critical circumstances allegation at that time.\7\ In response, on 
November 11, 2020, the petitioners timely filed an updated critical 
circumstances allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 
19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), alleging that critical circumstances exist with 
respect to imports of silicon metal from Iceland.\8\
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    \5\ The petitioners are Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. and 
Mississippi Silicon LLC (collectively, the petitioners).
    \6\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Silicon Metal from Iceland: 
Allegation of Critical Circumstances,'' dated October 20, 2020.
    \7\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Antidumping Duty Investigation of 
Silicon Metal from Iceland: Response to Petitioners' Critical 
Circumstances Allegation,'' dated November 5, 2020.
    \8\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Silicon metal from Iceland: 
Revised Allegation of Critical Circumstances,'' dated November 11, 
2020.
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    Section 733(e)(1) of the Act provides that Commerce will 
preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist in an 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 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 determine that critical 
circumstances exist with respect to imports of silicon metal exported 
by PCC Bakki and all other producers/exporters from Iceland.\9\
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    \9\ For a full description of Commerce's preliminary critical 
circumstances determination, see Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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All-Others Rate

    Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) of the Act provides that in the preliminary 
determination Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for 
all exporters and producers not individually investigated, in 
accordance with section 735(c)(5) of the Act. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of 
the Act states that generally the estimated rate for all-others shall 
be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-
average dumping margins established for exporters and producers 
individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, 
and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. 
Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the estimated weighted-
average dumping margins established for all exporters and producers 
individually examined are zero, de minimis, or determined entirely 
under section 776 of the Act, Commerce may use any reasonable method to 
establish the estimated weighted-average dumping margin for all other 
producers or exporters. The estimated weighted-average dumping margins 
in these preliminary determinations were determined entirely under 
section 776 of the Act. In cases where no weighted-average dumping 
margins other than those determined entirely under section 776 of the 
Act have been established for individually examined entities, in 
accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically 
averages the margins alleged in the petitions and applies the results 
to all other entities not individually examined.
    With respect to Bosnia, in the Petitions,\10\ the petitioners 
provided only one dumping margin, which was based on a price-to-
constructed value comparison. Therefore, for the all-others rate in the 
investigation covering silicon metal from Bosnia, we preliminarily 
assigned this estimated dumping margin, which is 21.41 percent, as the 
all-others rate.\11\
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    \10\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Silicon Metal from Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, Iceland, The Republic of Kazakhstan, and Malaysia--
Petition for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duties,'' dated June 30, 2020 (the Petitions) at Volume II; see also 
AD Investigation Initiation Checklist: Silicon Metal from Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, dated July 20, 2020 (AD Investigation Initiation 
Checklist: Bosnia).
    \11\ See, e.g., Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of 
Germany, 73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8, 2008), and accompanying Issues 
and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2; and AD Investigation 
Initiation Checklist: Bosnia.
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    With respect to Iceland, in the Petitions,\12\ the petitioners 
provided dumping margins based on price-to-price comparisons. The 
estimated dumping margins for the price-to-price comparisons range from 
28.12 percent to 47.54 percent. Therefore, for the all-others rate in 
the investigation covering silicon metal from Iceland, we preliminarily 
assigned the simple average of the range of margins alleged for subject 
merchandise from Iceland in the Petitions, which is 37.83 percent.\13\
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    \12\ See the Petitions at Volume III; see also AD Investigation 
Initiation Checklist: Silicon Metal from Iceland, dated July 20, 
2020 (AD Investigation Initiation Checklist: Iceland).
    \13\ See, e.g., Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of 
Germany, 73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8, 2008), and accompanying Issues 
and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2; and AD Investigation 
Initiation Checklist: Iceland.
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Preliminary Determinations

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins exist during the period April 1, 2019 
through March 31, 2020:

                         Bosnia and Herzegovina
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Dumping
                      Exporter/producer                         margin
                                                               (percent)
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R-S Silicon D.O.O...........................................       21.41
All Others..................................................       21.41
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                                 Iceland
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Dumping
                      Exporter/producer                         margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PCC Bakki Silicon hf........................................       47.54
All Others..................................................       37.83
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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 all entries of silicon metal from Bosnia and Iceland, as described 
in the ``Scope of the Investigations'' 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, 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 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. In accordance with 
section

[[Page 80011]]

733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, suspension of liquidation of silicon metal 
from Iceland as described in the ``Scope of the investigations'' in 
Appendix I, shall apply to unliquidated entries of merchandise from 
imports of silicon metal exported by PCC Bakki and all other producers/
exporters from Iceland, that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after the date which is 90 days before the 
publication of this notice, the date suspension of liquidation is first 
ordered.
    We will also instruct CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d) to require a cash deposit equal to the 
margins indicated in the charts above. These suspension of liquidation 
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

Verification

    Because each mandatory respondent in these investigations did not 
act to the best of their abilities to provide information requested by 
Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines each of the mandatory 
respondents to be uncooperative, we will not conduct verifications.

Disclosure

    Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations 
performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five 
days of any 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). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA 
to each mandatory respondent in these investigations, in accordance 
with section 776 of the Act, there are no calculations to disclose.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary 
determinations no later than 30 days after the date of publication of 
these preliminary determinations.\14\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to 
issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than seven days 
after the deadline date for case briefs.\15\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 
351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal 
briefs in these proceedings 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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    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i); see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for 
general filing requirements).
    \15\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); 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 Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain: 
(1) The party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of 
participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) 
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.
    An electronically filed document must be received successfully in 
its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the established 
deadline. Note that Commerce has temporarily modified certain of its 
requirements for serving documents containing business proprietary 
information, until further notice.\16\
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    \16\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 
10, 2020).
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Final Determinations

    Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that 
Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the 
date of its preliminary determination. Accordingly, Commerce will make 
its final determinations no later than 75 days after the signature date 
of these preliminary determinations.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of our affirmative preliminary 
determinations. If our final determinations are affirmative, the ITC 
will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of these 
preliminary determinations or 45 days after our final determinations 
whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material 
injury to, the U.S. industry.

Notification to Interested Parties

    These determinations are issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: December 7, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigations

    The scope of these investigations covers all forms and sizes of 
silicon metal, including silicon metal powder. Silicon metal 
contains at least 85.00 percent but less than 99.99 percent silicon, 
and less than 4.00 percent iron, by actual weight. Semiconductor 
grade silicon (merchandise containing at least 99.99 percent silicon 
by actual weight and classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule 
of the United States (HTSUS) subheading 2804.61.0000) is excluded 
from the scope of these investigations.
    Silicon metal is currently classifiable under subheadings 
2804.69.1000 and 2804.69.5000 of the HTSUS. While the HTSUS numbers 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope remains dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memoranda

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope of the Investigations
V. Application of Facts Available, Use of Adverse Inferences, 
Corroboration, and Calculation of All-Others Rate
VI. Preliminary Critical Circumstances Finding
VII. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2020-27316 Filed 12-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P