[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 198 (Friday, October 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82572-82573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23566]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-201-820]


Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Fresh 
Tomatoes From Mexico; Preliminary Results of 2022-2023 Administrative 
Review

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 
determines that a respondent selected for individual examination, 
Bioparques de Occidente, S.A. de C.V. (Bioparques), complied with the 
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Fresh 
Tomatoes from Mexico (2019 Agreement), for the period of review (POR) 
September 1, 2022, through August 31, 2023. Commerce also preliminarily 
determines that another respondent selected for individual examination, 
Agricola Globalmex, S.A. de C.V. (Globalmex), complied with certain 
requirements of the 2019 Agreement during the POR. Additionally, 
Commerce preliminarily determines that the 2019 Agreement functioned as 
intended and continued to meet the statutory requirements under 
sections 734(c) and (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) 
during the POR. Commerce requires additional information from two 
respondents, Globalmex and NatureSweet Invernaderos S. de R.L. de C.V./
NatureSweet Comercializadora, S. de R.L. de C.V. (collectively, 
NatureSweet). We intend to examine the additional requested information 
in a post-preliminary determination.

DATES: Applicable October 11, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Cordell or Walter Schaub, 
Enforcement & Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 
20230, telephone: (202) 482-0408 or (202) 482-0907, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 19, 2019, Commerce signed an agreement under section 
734(c) of the Act, with representatives of Mexican fresh tomato 
producers/exporters accounting for substantially all imports of fresh 
tomatoes from Mexico,\1\ suspending the antidumping duty investigation 
on fresh tomatoes from Mexico.\2\
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    \1\ The Mexican Grower Associations include: 
Confederaci[oacute]n de Asociaciones Agr[iacute]colas del Esta de 
Sinaloa, A.C., Consejo Agr[iacute]cola de Baja California, 
Asociaci[oacute]n de Productores de Hortalizas del Yaqui y Mayo and 
Sistema Producto Tomate (collectively, Mexican Growers 
Associations). Members of the Mexican Grower Associations are 
Signatories to the 2019 Agreement (Mexican Signatories).
    \2\ See Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico: Suspension of Antidumping 
Duty Investigation, 84 FR 49987 (September 24, 2019) (2019 
Agreement).
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    On September 28, 2023, the Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE), a member 
of the U.S. petitioning industry, filed a request for an administrative 
review of the 2019 Agreement.\3\ Commerce published notice of its 
initiation of the administrative review of the 2019 Agreement on 
November 15, 2023.\4\ On January 23, 2024, Commerce selected three 
companies as mandatory respondents, listed in alphabetical order: 
Globalmex; Bioparques; and NatureSweet.\5\ On the same day, Commerce 
issued questionnaires to each of the selected respondents.\6\
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    \3\ See FTE's Letter, ``Request for Administrative Review,'' 
dated September 28, 2023.
    \4\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 88 FR 78298 (November 15, 2023).
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Respondent Selection,'' dated January 23, 
2024 (Respondent Selection Memorandum).
    \6\ See Commerce's Letter, ``Request for Information: Agricola 
Globalmex, S.A. de C.V. and Bioparques de Occidente SA de C.V.,'' 
dated January 23, 2024 (Bioparques and Globalmex Request for 
Information); Commerce's Letter, ``Request for Information: 
NatureSweet Invernaderos S. de R.L. de C.V./NatureSweet 
Comercializadora, S. de R.L. de C.V.,'' dated January 23, 2024 
(NatureSweet Request for Information).
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Scope of the 2019 Agreement

    Merchandise covered by the 2019 Agreement is typically classified 
under the following subheading of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTSUS), according to the season of importation: 0702. 
The tariff classification is provided for convenience and customs 
purposes; however, the written description of the scope of this 2019 
Agreement is dispositive.\7\
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    \7\ For a complete description of the Scope of the 2019 
Agreement, see Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Results of the 2021-2022 Administrative Review: Fresh Tomatoes from 
Mexico,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this 
notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology and Preliminary Results

    Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 
751(a)(1)(C) of the Act, which specifies that Commerce shall ``review 
the current status of, and compliance with, any agreement by reason of 
which an investigation was suspended.'' In this case, Commerce and 
representatives of the Mexican tomato producers/exporters accounting 
for substantially all imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico signed the 
2019 Agreement, which suspended the underlying antidumping duty 
investigation, on September 19, 2019. Pursuant to the 2019 Agreement, 
the Mexican Signatories agreed to sell subject merchandise at or above 
certain minimum reference prices, and that their pricing would 
eliminate at least 85 percent of the dumping determined in the 
antidumping duty investigation.\8\ The Mexican signatories also agreed 
to other conditions, including quarterly audits,\9\ near-the-border 
inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on all Round and Roma 
tomatoes and certain other types of tomatoes beginning on April 4, 
2020,\10\ and limits to adjustments to the sales price due to certain 
changes in condition and quality after shipment.\11\
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    \8\ See 2019 Agreement at Section VI.
    \9\ Id. at Section VII.B.7.
    \10\ Id. at Section VII.C; see also Memorandum, ``Frequently 
Asked Questions Regarding Inspections,'' dated March 17, 2020.
    \11\ See 2019 Agreement, 84 FR 49996, at Appendix D.
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    After reviewing the information received to date from the mandatory 
respondents in the initial and supplemental questionnaire responses, we 
preliminarily determine that one respondent, Bioparques, has complied 
with the requirements of the 2019 Agreement. We also preliminarily 
determine based on the available information that another respondent, 
Globalmex, has adhered to certain compliance requirements of the 2019 
Agreement. Finally, we preliminarily determine that the 2019 Agreement 
functioned as intended and that the 2019 Agreement continued to meet 
the statutory requirements under sections 734(c) and (d) of the Act 
during the POR.
    We find that we require additional information to complete our 
examination of two respondents, Globalmex and NatureSweet, with regards 
to their compliance with the 2019 Agreement. We are issuing 
supplemental questionnaires to solicit additional information and we 
intend to address NatureSweet's compliance with all of the requirements 
of the 2019 Agreement, and Globalmex's compliance with certain 
remaining requirements of the 2019 Agreement, in a post-preliminary 
analysis.
    For a full description of the analysis underlying our conclusions, 
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of topics discussed in 
the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is

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included as an appendix 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.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
verify the information relied upon in making its final determination.

Public Comment

    Case briefs may be submitted no later than seven days after the 
date on which the last verification report is issued in this review. 
Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be 
submitted no later than seven days after the deadline date for case 
briefs.\12\ 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.\13\
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    \12\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1).
    \13\ 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 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.\14\ 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 results in this administrative review. 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).\15\
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    \14\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that 
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum.
    \15\ See Administrative Protective Order, Service, and Other 
Procedures in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings; Final 
Rule, 88 FR 67069 (September 29, 2023).
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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, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests 
should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; 
(2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of issues to be 
discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised 
in the respective case briefs. An electronically filed hearing request 
must be received successfully in its entirety by Commerce's electronic 
records system, ACCESS, by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the 
date of publication of this notice.
    Commerce intends to issue the final results of this administrative 
review, including the results of its analysis of the issues raised in 
any written briefs, not later than 120 days after the date of 
publication of this notice, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the 
Act, unless extended.

Notification to Interested Parties

    We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: October 7, 2024.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Scope of the 2019 Agreement
III. Background
IV. Preliminary Results of Review
V. Discussion of the Issues
VI. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2024-23566 Filed 10-10-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P