[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17409-17411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07475]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-018]


Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale from the 
People's Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value

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

DATES: Effective Date: April 1, 2015.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') preliminarily 
determines that boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale from 
the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') are being, or are likely to 
be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), as 
provided in section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the 
Act''). The period of investigation (``POI'') is January 1, 2014, 
through June 30, 2014. The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are shown 
in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. The final 
determination will be issued 75 days after publication of this 
preliminary determination in the Federal Register. Interested parties 
are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kabir Archuletta or Josh Startup, AD/
CVD Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
2593 or (202) 482-5260, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of this investigation covers boltless steel shelving 
units prepackaged for sale, with or without decks (``boltless steel 
shelving''). The term ``prepackaged for sale'' means that, at a 
minimum, the steel vertical supports (i.e., uprights and posts) and 
steel horizontal supports (i.e., beams, braces) necessary to assemble a 
completed shelving unit (with or without decks) are packaged together 
for ultimate purchase by the end-user. The scope also includes add-on 
kits. Add-on kits include, but are not limited to, kits that allow the 
end-user to add an extension shelving unit onto an existing boltless 
steel shelving unit such that the extension and the original unit will 
share common frame elements (e.g., two posts). The term ``boltless'' 
refers to steel shelving in which the vertical and horizontal supports 
forming the frame are assembled primarily without the use of nuts and 
bolts or screws. The vertical and horizontal support members for 
boltless steel shelving are assembled by methods such as, but not 
limited to, fitting a rivet, punched or cut tab or other similar 
connector on one support into a hole, slot or similar receptacle on 
another support. The supports lock together to form the frame for the 
shelving unit, and provide the structural integrity of the shelving 
unit separate from the inclusion of any decking. The incidental use of 
nuts and bolts or screws to add accessories, wall anchors, tie-bars or 
shelf supports does not remove the product from scope. Boltless steel 
shelving units may also come packaged as partially assembled, such as 
when two upright supports are welded together with front-to-back 
supports, or are otherwise connected, to form an end unit for the 
frame. The boltless steel shelving covered by this investigation may be 
commonly described as rivet shelving, welded frame shelving, slot and 
tab shelving, and punched rivet (quasi-rivet) shelving as well as by 
other trade names. The term ``deck'' refers to the shelf that sits on 
or fits into the horizontal supports (beams or braces) to provide the 
horizontal storage surface of the shelving unit.
    The scope includes all boltless steel shelving meeting the 
description above, regardless of (1) vertical support or post type 
(including but not limited to open post, closed post and tubing); (2)

[[Page 17410]]

horizontal support or beam/brace profile (including but not limited to 
Z-beam, C-beam, L-beam, step beam and cargo rack); (3) number of 
supports; (4) surface coating (including but not limited to paint, 
epoxy, powder coating, zinc and other metallic coating); (5) number of 
levels; (6) weight capacity; (7) shape (including but not limited to 
rectangular, square, and corner units); (8) decking material (including 
but not limited to wire decking, particle board, laminated board or no 
deck at all); or (9) the boltless method by which vertical and 
horizontal supports connect (including but not limited to keyhole and 
rivet, slot and tab, welded frame, punched rivet and clip).
    Specifically excluded from the scope are:
    <bullet> Wall-mounted shelving, defined as shelving that is hung on 
the wall and does not stand on, or transfer load to, the floor; \1\
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    \1\ The addition of a wall bracket or other device to attach 
otherwise freestanding subject merchandise to a wall does not meet 
the terms of this exclusion.
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    <bullet> Wire shelving units, which consist of shelves made from 
wire that incorporates both a wire deck and wire horizontal supports 
(taking the place of the horizontal beams and braces) into a single 
piece with tubular collars that slide over the posts and onto plastic 
sleeves snapped on the posts to create the finished shelving unit;
    <bullet> Bulk-packed parts or components of boltless steel shelving 
units; and
    <bullet> Made-to-order shelving systems.
    Subject boltless steel shelving enters the United States through 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTSUS'') statistical 
subheadings 9403.20.0018 and 9403.20.0020, but may also enter through 
HTSUS 9403.10.0040. While HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and Customs purposes, the written description of the scope 
of this investigation is dispositive.

Methodology

    The Department conducted this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. We calculated export prices and constructed 
export prices in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Because the 
PRC is a non-market economy within the meaning of section 771(18) of 
the Act, normal value (``NV'') was calculated in accordance with 
section 773(c) of the Act.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum hereby adopted by 
this notice.\2\ 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 http://access.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central 
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can 
be accessed directly on the Internet at http://trade.gov/enforcement//. 
The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic version 
of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.
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    \2\ See ``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary Determination for 
the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Boltless Steel Shelving Units 
Prepackaged for Sale from the People's Republic of China from the 
People's Republic of China,'' from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, to 
Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, 
dated concurrently with this notice (``Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum'').
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Combination Rates

    In the Initiation Notice,\3\ the Department stated that it would 
calculate combination rates for the respondents that are eligible for a 
separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin 05.1 describes 
this practice.\4\
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    \3\ See Boltless Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale from 
the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Antidumping Duty 
Investigation, 79 FR 56562, 56566 (September 22, 2014) (``Initiation 
Notice'').
    \4\ See Enforcement and Compliance's Policy Bulletin No. 05.1, 
regarding, ``Separate-Rates Practice and Application of Combination 
Rates in Antidumping Investigations involving Non-Market Economy 
Countries,'' (April 5, 2005) (``Policy Bulletin 05.1''), available 
on the Department's Web site at http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Preliminary Determination

    The preliminary weighted-average antidumping duty (``AD'') margin 
percentages are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
            Exporter                     Producer         average margin
                                                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zhongda United Holding Group     Jiaxing Zhongda                   22.64
 Co., Ltd.                        Metalwork Co., Ltd..
Jiaxing Zhongda Import & Export  Jiaxing Zhongda                   22.64
 Co., Ltd.                        Metalwork Co., Ltd.
Nanjing Topsun Racking           Nanjing Topsun Racking            85.26
 Manufacturing Co., Ltd.          Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Ningbo ETDZ Huixing Trade Co.,   Haifa (Ningbo) Office             50.23
 Ltd.                             Equipment Co., Ltd.
Ningbo ETDZ Huixing Trade Co.,   Ningbo Decko Metal                50.23
 Ltd.                             Products Trade Co.,
                                  Ltd.
Ningbo ETDZ Huixing Trade Co.,   Lianfa Metal Product              50.23
 Ltd.                             Co., Ltd.
Meridian International Co., Ltd  Zhejiang Limai Metal              50.23
                                  Products Co. Ltd.
Zhejiang Limai Metal Products    Zhejiang Limai Metal              50.23
 Co., Ltd.                        Products Co., Ltd.
PRC-Wide Entity................  .......................          112.68
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties in this 
proceeding within five days of the date of publication of this notice 
in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). Case briefs or other written 
comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement 
and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the 
final verification report is issued in this proceeding and rebuttal 
briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no 
later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.\5\ A 
table of contents, list of authorities used, and an executive summary 
of issues should accompany any briefs submitted to the Department.
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    \5\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
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    Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate 
if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, 
filed electronically at Enforcement and Compliance's electronic records 
system, ACCESS. An electronically filed document must be received 
successfully in its entirety by the Department's electronic records 
system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, within

[[Page 17411]]

30 days after the date of publication of this notice.\6\ Hearing 
requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone 
number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues you intend 
to present at the hearing. If a request for a hearing is made, the 
Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20230, at a time and location to be determined. Parties should confirm 
by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days 
before the scheduled date.
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    Pursuant to section 735(a)(1) of the Act, we will make our final 
determination no later than 75 days after the date of publication of 
this preliminary determination.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d) of the Act the Department will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to suspend 
liquidation of all entries of boltless steel shelving units prepackaged 
for sale from the PRC, as described in the ``Scope of the 
Investigation'' section, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.205(d), the Department will instruct CBP to 
require a cash deposit \7\ equal to the weighted-average amount by 
which NV exceeds U.S. price, adjusted where appropriate for export 
subsidies and estimated domestic subsidy pass-through,\8\ as follows: 
(1) the cash deposit rate for the exporter/producer combinations listed 
in the table above will be the rate the Department determines in this 
preliminary determination; (2) for all combinations of PRC exporters/
producers of merchandise under consideration that have not received 
their own separate rate above, the cash-deposit rate will be the cash 
deposit rate established for the PRC-wide entity; and (3) for all non-
PRC exporters of merchandise under consideration which have not 
received their own separate rate above, the cash-deposit rate will be 
the cash deposit rate applicable to the PRC exporter/producer 
combination that supplied that non-PRC exporter.
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    \7\ See Modification of Regulations Regarding the Practice of 
Accepting Bonds During the Provisional Measures Period in 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations, 76 FR 61042 
(October 3, 2011).
    \8\ See sections 772(c)(1)(C) and 777A(f) of the Act, 
respectively. Unlike in administrative reviews, the Department 
calculates the adjustment for export subsidies in investigations not 
in the margin calculation program, but in the cash deposit 
instructions issued to CBP. See Notice of Final Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and Negative Determination of 
Critical Circumstances: Certain Lined Paper Products from India, 71 
FR 45012 (August 8, 2006), and accompanying Issues and Decision 
Memorandum at Comment 1.
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    Furthermore, consistent with our practice, where the product under 
investigation is also subject to a concurrent countervailing duty 
investigation, we instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the 
amount by which the normal value exceeds the export price or 
constructed export price, less the amount of the countervailing duty 
determined to constitute an export subsidy. In this LTFV investigation, 
export subsidies constitute 3.03 percent \9\ of the preliminarily 
calculated countervailing duty rate in the concurrent countervailing 
duty investigation, and, thus, we will offset the calculated rates for 
the mandatory respondents and the PRC-wide rate of 112.68 percent by 
the countervailing duty rate attributable to export subsidies (i.e., 
3.03 percent) to calculate the cash deposit rate for this LTFV 
investigation. Additionally, the Department did not adjust the 
preliminary determination AD margins for estimated domestic subsidy 
pass-through because respondents provided no information to support an 
adjustment pursuant to section 777A(f) of the Act.\10\
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    \9\ The following subsidy programs in the preliminary 
determination of the concurrent countervailing duty investigation 
are export subsidies: Export Seller's Credits and Export Buyer's 
Credits from the Export-Import Bank of China (1.76 percent), GOC and 
Sub-Central Government Subsidies for the Development of Famous 
Brands and World Top Brands (0.58 percent), International Market 
Exploration (SME) Fund (0.58 percent), Export Assistance/Outward 
Expansion Grants in Guangdong Province (0.08 percent), Export Credit 
Insurance (0.01 percent), Export Subsidy for High-Tech Merchandise 
(0.02 percent). See Countervailing Duty Investigation of Boltless 
Steel Shelving Units Prepackaged for Sale From the People's Republic 
of China: Preliminary Determination and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 80 FR 5089 
(January 30, 2015), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
at 14-15.
    \10\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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International Trade Commission (``ITC'') Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we notified the ITC 
of our preliminary affirmative determination of sales at LTFV. Section 
735(b)(2) of the Act requires the ITC to make its final determination 
as to whether the domestic industry in the United States is materially 
injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of imports of 
boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale, or sales (or the 
likelihood of sales) for importation, of the merchandise under 
consideration within 45 days of our final determination.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: March 24, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum:

1. Initiation
2. Period of Investigation
3. Postponement of Preliminary Determination
4. Scope of the Investigation
5. Scope Comments
6. Selection of Respondents
7. Discussion of the Methodology
    a. Non-market Economy Country
    b. Surrogate Country and Surrogate Value Comments
    c. Separate Rates
    d. Margin for the Separate Rate Companies
    e. Combination Rates
    f. The PRC-wide Entity
    g. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Facts Available
    h. Corroboration of Information
    i. Affiliation/Single Entity
    j. Date of Sale
    k. Fair Value Comparisons
    l. Export Price
    m. Value-Added Tax
    n. Normal Value
    o. Factor Valuation Methodology
    p. Comparison to Normal Value

    q. Currency Conversion
8. Verification
9. Section 777A(f) of the Act
10. International Trade Commission Notification
11. Conclusion
[FR Doc. 2015-07475 Filed 3-31-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P