[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 75 (Monday, April 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21706-21707]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09004]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-570-021]


Melamine From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers/exporters of melamine from the People's Republic of China 
(``PRC''). The period of investigation is January 1, 2013, through 
December 31, 2013. Interested parties are invited to comment on this 
preliminary determination.

DATES: Effective Date: April 20, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eve Wang or Andrew Medley, AD/CVD 
Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
6231 and (202) 482-4987, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination

    The Department published its notice of initiation of this 
countervailing duty (``CVD'') investigation on December 9, 2014; on the 
same day, the Department published its notice of initiation of an 
antidumping duty (``AD'') investigation of melamine from the PRC.\1\ 
The CVD and AD investigations cover the same merchandise. On April 1, 
2015, in accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 
as amended (``the Act''), Cornerstone Chemical Company (``Petitioner'') 
requested alignment of the final CVD determination with the final AD 
determination of melamine from the PRC.\2\ Therefore, in accordance 
with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), we are 
aligning the final CVD determination with the final AD determination. 
Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued on the same 
date as the final AD determination, which is currently scheduled to be 
issued no later than August 24, 2015, unless postponed.
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    \1\ See Melamine From the People's Republic of China and 
Trinidad and Tobago: Initiation of Countervailing Duty 
Investigations, 79 FR 73030 (December 9, 2014). See also Melamine 
From the People's Republic of China and Trinidad and Tobago: 
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 79 FR 73037 
(December 9, 2014).
    \2\ See Letter from Petitioner entitled ``Melamine From The 
People's Republic of China And The Republic of Trinidad And Tobago/
Request For Alignment,'' dated April 1, 2015.
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Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is melamine from the PRC. 
For a complete description of the scope of the investigation, see 
Appendix 1 to this notice.

Methodology

    The Department is conducting this CVD investigation in accordance 
with section 701 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our preliminary conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\3\ 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'').\4\ ACCESS is available to registered users at 
http://access.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the 
Department's Central Records Unit, located at room 7046 of the main 
Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be found 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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    \3\ See Memorandum to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, From Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, titled 
``Decision Memorandum for Preliminary Determination of 
Countervailing Duty Investigation: Melamine from the People's 
Republic of China,'' dated concurrently with this notice 
(``Preliminary Decision Memorandum'').
    \4\ On November 24, 2014, Enforcement and Compliance changed the 
name of Enforcement and Compliance's AD and CVD Centralized 
Electronic Service System (``IA ACCESS'') to AD and CVD Centralized 
Electronic Service System (``ACCESS''). The Web site location was 
changed from http://iaaccess.trade.gov to http://access.trade.gov. 
The Final Rule changing the references to the Regulations can be 
found at 79 FR 69046 (November 20, 2014).
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    For this preliminary determination, we relied on facts available 
pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act because the Government of the PRC 
and the five companies selected for individual examination--i.e., the 
mandatory respondents: Far-Reaching Chemical Co., Ltd. (``Far-Reaching 
Chemical''), Zhongyuan Dahua Group Co., Ltd. (``Zhongyuan Dahua''), 
Qingdao Unichem International Trade Co., Ltd. (``Qingdao Unichem''), M 
and A Chemicals Corp China (``M&A Chemicals''), and Shandong Liaherd 
Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (``Shandong Liaherd''). failed to provide 
information requested by the Department and, by refusing to participate 
as respondents, significantly impeded the investigation.\5\ Further, 
because they failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of their 
ability to respond to the Department's requests for necessary 
information, pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act, in selecting from 
among the facts otherwise available, we have drawn an adverse 
inference. Specifically, the Department applied an adverse inference to 
find that the programs on which the Department initiated this 
investigation and the programs which the Department subsequently 
included in this investigation pursuant to allegations made by 
Petitioner,\6\ are countervailable. Further, the Department applied an 
adverse inference in its calculation of the ad valorem estimated 
countervailable subsidy rate for Far-Reaching Chemical,

[[Page 21707]]

Zhongyuan Dahua, Qingidau Unichem, M&A Chemicals, and Shandong Liaherd. 
For further information, see ``Use of Facts Otherwise Available and 
Adverse Inferences'' section in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \5\ See sections 776(a)(2)(A) and (C) of the Act.
    \6\ See the Department's memorandum entitled ``Countervailing 
Duty Investigation on Melamine from the People's Republic of China: 
January 27, 2015 New Subsidy Allegations,'' dated March 25, 2015.
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Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(d)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated estimated subsidy rates for each individually examined 
producer/exporter of the subject merchandise: Far-Reaching Chemical, 
Zhongyuan Dahua, Qingidau Unichem, M&A Chemicals, and Shandong Liaherd.
    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(A)(i) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the 
Act, for companies not individually examined, we calculated an ``all-
others'' rate by weighting the subsidy rates of the individual 
companies selected as respondents by those companies' exports of the 
subject merchandise to the United States, not including zero and de 
minimis rates or any rates based solely on facts available. With 
respect to the all-others rate, section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act 
provides that, if the countervailable subsidy rates established for all 
exporters and producers individually investigated are determined 
entirely in accordance with section 776 of the Act, the Department may 
use any reasonable method to establish an all-others rate for exporters 
and producers not individuallyexamined. In this case, the 
countervailable subsidy rate calculated for each of the investigated 
companies is based entirely on facts available under section 776 of the 
Act. There is no other information on the record upon which to 
determine an all-others rate. As a result, we assigned the simple 
average of the five rates assigned for Far-Reaching Chemical, Zhongyuan 
Dahua, Qingidau Unichem, M&A Chemicals, and Shandong Liaherd as the 
all-others rate. This method is consistent with the Department's past 
practice.\7\
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    \7\ See, e.g., Carbon and Certain Alloy Steel Wire Rod From the 
People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Final Affirmative Critical Circumstances 
Determination, 79 FR 68858 (November 19, 2014); see also Calcium 
Hypochlorite From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative 
Countervailing Duty Determination, 79 FR 74064 (December 15, 2014).
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    We preliminarily determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy Rate
                         Company                             (percent)
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Far-Reaching Chemical Co., Ltd..........................          147.62
M and A Chemicals Corp China............................          147.62
Qingdao Unichem International Trade Co., Ltd............          147.62
Shandong Liaherd Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.............          150.52
Zhongyuan Dahua Group Co., Ltd..........................          147.62
All Others..............................................          148.20
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    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (2) of the Act, we are 
directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of 
all entries of melamine from the PRC that are entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of the publication 
of this notice in the Federal Register, and to require a cash deposit 
for such entries of merchandise in the amounts indicated above.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    Because the Department has reached its conclusions on the basis of 
adverse facts available, the calculations performed in connection with 
this preliminary determination are not proprietary in nature, and are 
described in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. Interested parties 
may submit case and rebuttal briefs, as well as request a hearing.\8\ 
For a schedule of the deadlines for filing case briefs, rebuttal 
briefs, and hearing requests, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \8\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)-(d) and 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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U.S. International Trade Commission (``ITC'') Notification

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
ITC of our determination. In addition, we are making available to the 
ITC all non-privileged and non-proprietary information relating to this 
investigation. We will allow the ITC access to all privileged and 
business proprietary information in our files, provided the ITC 
confirms that it will not disclose such information, either publicly or 
under an administrative protective order, without the written consent 
of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
    In accordance with section 705(b)(2) of the Act, if our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will make its final determination 
within 45 days after the Department makes its final determination.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: April 13, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix 1

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation is melamine 
(Chemical Abstracts Service (``CAS'') registry number 108-78-01, 
molecular formula C<INF>3</INF>H<INF>6</INF>N<INF>6</INF>).\9\ 
Melamine is a crystalline powder or granule typically (but not 
exclusively) used to manufacture melamine formaldehyde resins. All 
melamine is covered by the scope of this investigation irrespective 
of purity, particle size, or physical form. Melamine that has been 
blended with other products is included within this scope when such 
blends include constituent parts that have been intermingled, but 
that have not been chemically reacted with each other to produce a 
different product. For such blends, only the melamine component of 
the mixture is covered by the scope of this investigation. Melamine 
that is otherwise subject to this investigation is not excluded when 
commingled with melamine from sources not subject to this 
investigation. Only the subject component of such commingled 
products is covered by the scope of this investigation.
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    \9\ Melamine is also known as 2,4,6-triamino-s-triazine; l,3,5-
Triazine-2,4,6-triamine; Cyanurotriamide; Cyanurotriamine; 
Cyanuramide; and by various brand names.
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    The subject merchandise is provided for in subheading 
2933.61.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS subheading and CAS registry number 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope is dispositive.

Appendix 2

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

1. Summary
2. Background
3. Scope Comments
4. Scope of the Investigation
5. Respondent Selection
6. Voluntary Respondent Treatment
7. Injury Test
8. Application of the Countervailing Duty Law to Imports from the 
PRC
9. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
10. ITC Notification
11. Disclosure and Public Comment
12. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2015-09004 Filed 4-17-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P