Notice2025-05693
Slag Pots From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination
Primary source
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Published
April 3, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of slag pots from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of investigation is January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 63 (Thursday, April 3, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 63 (Thursday, April 3, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14625-14628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05693]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-570-197]
Slag Pots From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to
producers and exporters of slag pots from the People's Republic of
China (China). The period of investigation is January 1, 2023, through
December 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this
preliminary determination.
[[Page 14626]]
DATES: Applicable April 3, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel Brummitt or T.J. Worthington,
AD/CVD Operations, Office III, Enforcement and Compliance,
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-7851
or (202) 482-4567, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section
703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on January 28,
2025.\1\ For a complete description of the events that followed the
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum.\2\ A list of topics discussed 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.vtrade.gov">https://access.vtrade.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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\1\ See Slag Pots from the People's Republic of China:
Initiation of Countervailing Duty Investigation, 90 FR 8267 (January
28, 2025) (Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Affirmative Determination of the Countervailing Duty Investigation
of Slag Pots from the People's Republic of China,'' dated
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation
The products covered by this investigation are slag pots from
China. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation,
see Appendix I.
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\ Certain interested
parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in
the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product coverage comments
submitted to the record for this preliminary determination, and
accompanying discussion and analysis of the comments timely received,
see the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum.\5\ Commerce is
preliminarily modifying the scope language as it appeared in the
Initiation Notice. See revised scope in Appendix I.
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\3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
\4\ See Initiation Notice, 90 FR at 8268.
\5\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty
Investigations of Slag Pots from the People's Republic of China:
Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum,'' dated concurrently with
this notice (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
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Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found
countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a
subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that gives
rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is
specific.\6\
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\6\ See sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
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Commerce notes that, in making these findings, it relied on facts
available and, because Commerce finds that necessary information was
missing from the record and because respondents did not act to the best
of their ability to respond to Commerce's requests for information,
Commerce drew an adverse inference (AFA) in selecting from among the
facts otherwise available.\7\ For further information, see the ``Use of
Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences'' section in the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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\7\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
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All-Others Rate
Sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that in the
preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-
others rate for companies not individually examined. This rate shall be
an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated subsidy rates
established for those companies individually examined, excluding any
zero and de minimis rates and any rates based entirely under section
776 of the Act.
Pursuant to section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act, if the individual
estimated countervailable subsidy rates established for all exporters
and producers individually examined are zero, de minimis, or determined
based entirely on facts otherwise available, Commerce may use any
reasonable method to establish the estimated subsidy rate for all other
producers or exporters. In this investigation, Commerce preliminarily
determined the individually estimated subsidy rate for each of the
individually examined respondents based entirely on facts available
under section 776 of the Act. This is the only rate available in this
proceeding for deriving the all-others rate. Consequently, pursuant to
sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act, Commerce established
the all-others rate by applying the countervailable subsidy rate
assigned to the non-responsive companies listed below.
Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
countervailable subsidy rates exist:
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Subsidy rate (percent
Company ad valorem)
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Chaeng Great Wall Steel Casting Co. Ltd........ * 226.16
UMECC Beijing Equipment Inc. Ltd............... * 226.16
Cast-Con Engineering GmbH & Co. KG............. * 226.16
Changzhou Jinyuan Machinery Equipment Ltd. Co.. * 226.16
Dawang Metals Co. Ltd.......................... * 226.16
GVA Krefeld GmbH............................... * 226.16
Liaoning Mineral and Metallurgy Group Co. Ltd.. * 226.16
Luoyang Zhongtai Industries Co., Ltd........... * 226.16
Shantou Huaxing Metallurgical Equipment Co. Ltd * 226.16
Tangshan Sinya International Trade Co., Ltd.... * 226.16
All Others..................................... 226.16
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* Rate is based on facts available with adverse inferences.
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Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 703(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 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.
Further, pursuant to section 703(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR
351.107(e), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal
to the estimated company-specific countervailable subsidy rate or the
estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for
the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific
estimated individual countervailable subsidy rates determined in this
preliminary determination; (2) if both the producer and exporter of the
subject merchandise have company-specific estimated subsidy rates
determined in this preliminary determination, and their rates differ,
then the applicable cash deposit rate will be the higher of these two
rates; (3) if either the producer or the exporter, but not both, of the
subject merchandise have a company-specific estimated subsidy rate
determined in this preliminary determination, the applicable cash
deposit rate will be that company's company-specific rate; and (4) the
cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal
to the estimated all-others subsidy rate.
Disclosure
Normally, Commerce discloses its calculations and analysis
performed in connection with the preliminary determination to
interested parties within five days of its public announcement, or if
there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of this
notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce
preliminarily applied total AFA in the calculation of the benefit for
Chaeng Great Wall Steel Casting Co. Ltd., UMECC Beijing Equipment Inc.
Ltd, and the non-responsive companies, and the applied AFA rates are
based on rates calculated in prior proceedings, there are no
calculations to disclose.
Verification
Because the examined respondents in this investigation did not
provide information requested by Commerce and Commerce preliminarily
determines each of the examined respondents to have been uncooperative,
it will not conduct verification.
Public Comment
All interested parties will have the opportunity to submit scope
case and rebuttal briefs on the preliminary decision regarding the
scope of the less-than-fair-value (LTFV)and CVD investigations. The
deadlines to submit scope case and rebuttal briefs will be provided in
the preliminary scope decision memorandum. For all scope case and
rebuttal briefs, parties must file identical documents simultaneously
on the records of the ongoing LTFV and CVD slag pots investigations. No
new factual information or business proprietary information may be
included in either scope case or rebuttal briefs.
Case briefs or other written comments on non-scope issues may be
submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no
later than 20 days after the date of publication of the preliminary
determination. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case
briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for filing
case briefs.\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 19 351.309(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 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 determination in this investigation. 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).\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.
U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify
the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of its 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 slag pots
from China are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the
U.S. industry.
Notification to Interested Parties
This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).
Dated: March 27, 2025.
Christopher Abbott,
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 merchandise covered by the investigation is slag pots with a
nominal capacity of 65 cubic feet to 1200 cubic feet regardless of
shape, form, or finish.
Slag pots are load bearing devices typically formed as a curved
shell or bowl-shaped container. Slag pots are metallurgical goods
typically produced either using a casting process or a fabrication
process (e.g., welding) and may include a ceramic refractory
coating, heat treatment or various finishes in order to handle high
temperature slag. Slag pots may contain integral features or
attachments including (1) legs (or a stand) and (2) pivotal mounting
hooks or brackets. Legs (or a stand) are a fixed or detachable
[[Page 14628]]
support structure which allows the slag pot to be securely
positioned upright on a surface when not being lifted or transported
and may also keep the slag pot off the ground and allow for air
cooling. The pivotal mounting hooks and brackets are specialized
attachment points (such as lifting lugs or trunnions) that allow the
slag pot to be securely lifted and transported by a crane or lifting
device, or that enable the slag pot to swing or rotate while
remaining attached to the lifting mechanism. The merchandise covered
by this investigation includes all aforementioned attachments of a
fully assembled slag pot, regardless of whether shipped assembled or
unassembled.
Slag pots are included within the scope whether finished or
unfinished, whether imported individually or with other subject or
non-subject merchandise, or whether assembled with attachments or
unassembled. Finishing includes, but is not limited to, arc washing,
welding, grinding, shot blasting, heat treatment, machining, and
assembly of various parts.
The country of origin for slag pots whether fully assembled,
unfinished or finished, is the country where the slag pot was cast
or forged. Subject merchandise includes slag pots that have been
further processed or further assembled in a third country. Further
processing and further assembly include, but is not limited to, arc
washing, welding, grinding, shot blasting, heat treatment, painting,
coating, priming, machining, and assembly of attachments.
Slag pots subject to the investigation are specified within the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under
subheadings 7309.00.0090 and 8454.20.0080. The slag pot attachments
covered by the scope of this investigation may enter under HTSUS
subheadings 7316.00.0000, 7325.10.0080, 7325.99.1000, 7325.99.5000,
and 7326.19.0080. The HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience
and customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of
the investigation is dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Injury Test
IV. Analysis of China's Financial System
V. Diversification of China's Economy
VI. Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Adverse Inferences
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2025-05693 Filed 4-2-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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