Notice2024-11898
Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Ecuador: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures
Primary source
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Published
May 30, 2024
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds that frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from Ecuador is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 105 (Thursday, May 30, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 105 (Thursday, May 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46857-46860]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-11898]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-331-805]
Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From Ecuador: Preliminary Affirmative
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of Final
Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds
that frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from Ecuador is being, or is
likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV).
The period of investigation (POI) is October 1, 2022,
[[Page 46858]]
through September 30, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment
on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable May 30, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kyle Clahane, Matthew Palmer, or Megan
Goins, AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5449, (202) 482-
1678, and (202) 482-0884, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on November
21, 2023.\1\ On March 7, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary
determination of this investigation until May 22, 2024.\2\
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\1\ See Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador and Indonesia:
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 88 FR 81043
(November 21, 2023) (Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Frozen Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador and Indonesia:
Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-
Value Investigations, 89 FR 16535 (March 7, 2024).
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For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.\3\ 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 on file electronically
via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to
registered users at <a href="https://access.trade.gov">https://access.trade.gov</a>. In addition, a complete
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly
at <a href="https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx">https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx</a>.
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\3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Frozen
Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby
adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation
The product covered by this investigation is shrimp from Ecuador.
For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, see
Appendix I.
Scope Comments
In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations,\4\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\5\ No interested party
commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the
Initiation Notice. Commerce is not preliminarily modifying the scope
language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the scope in
Appendix I to this notice.
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\4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, 62 FR 27296,
27323 (May 19, 1997).
\5\ See Initiation Notice, 88 FR at 81043.
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Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Commerce has calculated export prices in
accordance with section 772(a) of the Act. Constructed export prices
have been calculated in accordance with section 772(b) of the Act.
Normal value is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act.
For a full description of the methodology underlying the preliminary
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
All-Others Rate
Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) and 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that in
the preliminary determination Commerce shall determine an estimated
all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually
examined. This rate 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. In this investigation, Commerce preliminarily
calculated a de minimis rate for Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila
S.A. (Santa Priscila)/Tropical Packing Ecuador Tropack S.A.(Tropack)
(Santa Priscila/Tropack).\6\ Therefore, the only rate that is not zero,
de minimis or based entirely on facts otherwise available is the rate
calculated for Sociedad Nacional de Gal[aacute]pagos C.A./Marina del
Rey (SONGA/Marina del Ray).\7\ Consequently, the preliminary rate
calculated for SONGA/Marina del Ray is also the preliminary rate
assigned to all other producers and exporters.
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\6\ Commerce preliminarily determines that these companies are a
single entity. See Preliminary Decision Memorandum; see also
Memorandum, ``Preliminary Affiliation and Collapsing Memorandum,''
dated concurrently with this notice (Preliminary Affiliation and
Collapsing Memorandum).
\7\ Commerce preliminarily determines that these companies are a
single entity. See Preliminary Decision Memorandum; see also
Preliminary Affiliation and Collapsing Memorandum.
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Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
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Cash deposit rate
Weighted-average (adjusted for
Exporter/producer dumping margin subsidy offset(s))
(percent) (percent)
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Sociedad Nacional de 10.58 10.58
Gal[aacute]pagos C.A./Marina
del Rey........................
Industrial Pesquera Santa * 1.54 N/A
Priscila S.A./Tropical Packing
Ecuador Tropack S.A............
All Others...................... 10.58 10.18
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* (de minimis).
Consistent with section 733(b)(3) of the Act, Commerce disregards
de minimis rates and preliminarily determines that individually
examined respondents with de minimis rates have not made sales of
subject merchandise at LTFV.
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 entries of subject merchandise, as described 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, pursuant
to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), Commerce will
instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted
average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows:
(1) the cash deposit rate for the respondents listed
[[Page 46859]]
above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average
dumping margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if
the exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is,
then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific
estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer
of the subject merchandise, except as explained below; and (3) the cash
deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal to the
all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin.
Because the estimated weighted-average dumping margin for Santa
Priscila/Tropack is de minimis, entries of shipments of subject
merchandise from Santa Priscila/Tropack will not be subject to
suspension of liquidation or cash deposit requirements. In such
situations, Commerce applies the exclusion to the provisional measures
to the producer/exporter combination that was examined in the
investigation. Accordingly, Commerce is directing CBP not to suspend
liquidation of entries of subject merchandise from Santa Priscila/
Tropack. Entries of shipments of subject merchandise from these
companies in any other producer/exporter combination, or by third
parties that sourced subject merchandise from the excluded producer/
exporter combination, are subject to the provisional measures at the
all-others rate.
Should the final estimated weighted-average dumping margin be zero
or de minimis for the producer/exporter combination identified above,
entries of shipments of subject merchandise from this producer/exporter
combination will be excluded from the potential antidumping duty order.
Such exclusions are not applicable to merchandise exported to the
United States by these respondents in any other producer/exporter
combinations or by third parties that sourced subject merchandise from
the excluded producer/exporter combination.
Commerce normally adjusts cash deposits for estimated antidumping
duties by the amount of export subsidies countervailed in a companion
countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding, when CVD provisional measures are
in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce preliminarily made an
affirmative determination for countervailable export subsidies,
Commerce has offset the estimated weighted-average dumping margin by
the appropriate CVD rate. Any such adjusted cash deposit rate may be
found in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section above.
Should provisional measures in the companion CVD investigation
expire prior to the expiration of provisional measures in this LTFV
investigation, Commerce will direct CBP to begin collecting estimated
antidumping duty cash deposits unadjusted for countervailed export
subsidies at the time that the provisional CVD measures expire. These
suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until
further notice.
Disclosure
Commerce intends to disclose to interested parties the calculations
performed in this 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 this notice in accordance with 19
CFR 351.224(b).
Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if
appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial
errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent
with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete
allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR
351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce
will address such allegations in the final determination together with
issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.
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 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 last verification report is issued in
this investigation. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the
case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for
filing case brief.\8\ 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.\9\
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\8\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); see also Administrative Protective
Order, Service, and Other Procedures in Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Proceedings, 88 FR 67069, 67077 (September 29,
2023) (APO and Service Final Rule).
\9\ See 19 CFR 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 investigation, we instead request
that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a
public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs.\10\
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 determination in this
investigation. 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).\11\
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\10\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and
Decision Memorandum.
\11\ See APO and Service Final Rule.
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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
the party's name, address, and 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.
Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional
Measures
Section 735(a)(2)(B) of the Act provides that a final determination
may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the
publication of the preliminary determination if, in the event of an
affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement
is made by exporters who account for a significant proportion of
exports of the subject merchandise, or in the event of a negative
preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by
the petitioner. Section 351.210(e)(2) of Commerce's regulations
requires that a request by exporters for postponement of the final
[[Page 46860]]
determination be accompanied by a request for extension of provisional
measures from a four-month period to a period not more than six months
in duration.
On April 17, 2024 and May 20, 2024, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(e),
American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA, or the petitioner), and
Santa Priscila/Tropack and SONGA, respectively, requested that Commerce
postpone the final determination and that provisional measures be
extended to a period not to exceed six months.\12\ In accordance with
section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii), because:
(1) the preliminary determination is affirmative; (2) the requesting
exporters account for a significant proportion of exports of the
subject merchandise; and (3) no compelling reasons for denial exist,
Commerce is postponing the final determination and extending the
provisional measures from a four-month period to a period not greater
than six months. Accordingly, Commerce's final determination will be
issued no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this
preliminary determination.
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\12\ See Petitioner's Letter, ``Warmwater Shrimp from Ecuador
and Indonesia: Petitioner's Requests to Postpone Final
Determinations,'' dated April 17, 2024; see also Santa Priscila and
SONGA's Letter, ``Request to Extend the Deadline for the Final
Determination,'' dated May 20, 2024.
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U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify
the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of its preliminary
determination. If the final determination is affirmative, the ITC will
determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this
preliminary determination or 45 days after the final determination
whether imports of these imports are materially injuring, or threaten
material injury to, the U.S. industry.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).
Dated: May 22, 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 I
Scope of the Investigation
The scope of this investigation includes certain frozen
warmwater shrimp and prawns whether wild-caught (ocean harvested) or
farm-raised (produced by aquaculture), head-on or head-off, shell-on
or peeled, tail-on or tail-off, deveined or not deveined, cooked or
raw, or otherwise processed in frozen form. ``Tails'' in this
context means the tail fan, which includes the telson and the
uropods.
The frozen warmwater shrimp and prawn products included in the
scope, regardless of definitions in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule
of the United States (HTSUS), are products which are processed from
warmwater shrimp and prawns through freezing and which are sold in
any count size.
The products described above may be processed from any species
of warmwater shrimp and prawns. Warmwater shrimp and prawns are
generally classified in, but are not limited to, the Penaeidae
family. Some examples of the farmed and wild-caught warmwater
species include, but are not limited to, whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus
vannemei), banana prawn (Penaeus merguiensis), fleshy prawn (Penaeus
chinensis), giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), giant
tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon), redspotted shrimp (Penaeus
brasiliensis), southern brown shrimp (Penaeus subtilis), southern
pink shrimp (Penaeus notialis), southern rough shrimp (Trachypenaeus
curvirostris), southern white shrimp (Penaeus schmitti), blue shrimp
(Penaeus stylirostris), western white shrimp (Penaeus occidentalis),
and Indian white prawn (Penaeus indicus).
Frozen shrimp and prawns that are packed with marinade, spices
or sauce are included in the scope. In addition, food preparations,
which are not ``prepared meals,'' that contain more than 20 percent
by weight of shrimp or prawn are also included in the scope.
Excluded from the scope are: (1) breaded shrimp and prawns
(HTSUS subheading 1605.21.1020); (2) shrimp and prawns generally
classified in the Pandalidae family and commonly referred to as
coldwater shrimp, in any state of processing; (3) fresh shrimp and
prawns whether shell-on or peeled (HTSUS subheadings 0306.36.0020
and 0306.36.0040); (4) shrimp and prawns in prepared meals (HTSUS
subheadings 1605.21.0500 and 1605.29.0500); (5) dried shrimp and
prawns; (6) canned warmwater shrimp and prawns (HTSUS subheading
1605.29.1040); and (7) certain battered shrimp. Battered shrimp is a
shrimp-based product: (1) that is produced from fresh (or thawed-
from-frozen) and peeled shrimp; (2) to which a ``dusting'' layer of
rice or wheat flour of at least 95 percent purity has been applied;
(3) with the entire surface of the shrimp flesh thoroughly and
evenly coated with the flour; (4) with the non-shrimp content of the
end product constituting between four and ten percent of the
product's total weight after being dusted, but prior to being
frozen; and (5) that is subjected to individually quick frozen (IQF)
freezing immediately after application of the dusting layer. When
dusted in accordance with the definition of dusting above, the
battered shrimp product is also coated with a wet viscous layer
containing egg and/or milk, and par-fried.
The products covered by the scope are currently classified under
the following HTSUS subheadings: 0306.17.0004, 0306.17.0005,
0306.17.0007, 0306.17.0008, 0306.17.0010, 0306.17.0011,
0306.17.0013, 0306.17.0014, 0306.17.0016, 0306.17.0017,
0306.17.0019, 0306.17.0020, 0306.17.0022, 0306.17.0023,
0306.17.0025, 0306.17.0026, 0306.17.0028, 0306.17.0029,
0306.17.0041, 0306.17.0042, 1605.21.1030, and 1605.29.1010. These
HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and for customs
purposes only and are not dispositive, but rather the written
description of the scope is dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Affiliation and Single Entity Treatment
V. Discussion of the Methodology
VI. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates for Export Subsidies in the
Companion Countervailing Duty Investigation
VII. Currency Conversion
VIII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2024-11898 Filed 5-29-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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