Hexamethylenetetramine From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
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Issuing agencies
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that hexamethylenetetramine (hexamine) from the People's Republic of China (China) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 86 (Tuesday, May 6, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 6, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19182-19184]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07802]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-180]
Hexamethylenetetramine From the People's Republic of China:
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that hexamethylenetetramine (hexamine) from the People's
Republic of China (China) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the
United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of
investigation (POI) is January 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024.
Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary
determination.
DATES: Applicable May 6, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Cloyd, AD/CVD Operations,
Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1246, 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 4,
2024.\1\ On February 21,
[[Page 19183]]
2025, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this
investigation until April 29, 2025.\2\
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\1\ See Hexamethylenetetramine from the People's Republic of
China, Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia: Initiation of Less-Than-
Fair-Value Investigations, 89 FR 87545 (November 4, 2024)
(Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Hexamethylenetetramine from the People's Republic of
China, Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia: Postponement of Preliminary
Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 90 FR
10067 (February 21, 2025).
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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
Hexamethylenetetramine 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 product covered by this investigation is hexamine 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,\4\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\5\ No interested
parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in
the Initiation Notice. Thus, Commerce is not preliminarily modifying
the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice.
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\4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
\5\ See Initiation Notice.
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Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Furthermore, pursuant to sections 776(a) and
(b) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily has relied upon facts otherwise
available, with adverse inferences (AFA), for the China-wide entity.
For a full description of the methodology underlying Commerce's
preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Combination Rates
In the Initiation Notice,\6\ Commerce stated that it would
calculate producer/exporter combination rates for the respondents that
are eligible for a separate rate in this investigation. Policy Bulletin
05.1 describes this practice.\7\ In this case, because no respondent
qualified for a separate rate, producer/exporter combination rates were
not calculated.
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\6\ See Initiation Notice, 89 FR at 87549.
\7\ 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
Commerce's website at <a href="https://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf">https://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf</a>.
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Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
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Cash deposit
Weighted- rate (adjusted
Producer/exporter average dumping for subsidy
margin offset)
(percent) (percent)
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China-wide Entity..................... * 405.19 394.65
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* Rate based on facts available with adverse inferences.
Disclosure
Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations
performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five
days of its public announcement or, if there is no public announcement,
within five days of the date of publication of the notice of
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied
total AFA to the China-wide entity in this investigation, in accordance
with section 776 of the Act, and the applied AFA rate is based solely
on the petition, there are no calculations to disclose.
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 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,
as discussed below. 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 weighted average amount by which normal value
exceeds U.S. price, as indicated in the chart above.
To determine the cash deposit rate, Commerce normally adjusts the
estimated weighted-average dumping margin by the amount of domestic
subsidy pass-through and export subsidies determined in a companion
countervailing duty (CVD) proceeding when CVD provisional measures are
in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce has made a preliminary
affirmative determination for domestic subsidy pass-through or export
subsidies, Commerce has offset the calculated estimated weighted-
average dunping margin by the appropriate rates(s). As discussed in the
Preliminary Decision Memoranudm, we have made no adjustment for
domestic subsidy pass-through. As further explained in the Preliminary
Decision Memorandum, as an extension of our AFA finding for the China-
wide entity, the appropriate export subsidy adjustment is the lowest
amount of export subsidies found for any respondent in the companion
CVD investigation, which is 10.54 percent attributable to the Export
Buyer's Credit program.
Should provisional measures in the companion CVD investigation
expire prior to the expiration of provisional measures in this LTFV
investigation,
[[Page 19184]]
Commerce will direct CBP to begin collecting cash deposits at a rate
equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin calculated in
this preliminary determination unadjusted for the passed-through
domestic subsidies or for export subsidies at the time the CVD
provisional measures expire.
These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect
until further notice.
Verification
Because the mandatory respondents in this investigation did not
provide information requested by Commerce and Commerce preliminarily
determines each of the mandatory respondents to have been
uncooperative, verification will not be conducted.
Public Comment
Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 30
days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination.\8\
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.\9\ 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.\10\
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\8\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i); see also 19 CFR 351.303 for
general filing requirements.
\9\ 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).
\10\ 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.\11\
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).\12\
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\11\ We use the term ``issue'' here to describe an argument that
Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and
Decision Memorandum.
\12\ 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:
(1) the party's name, address, and telephone number, (2) the number of
participants, and whether any participant is a foreign national, and
(3) a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is
made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a date and time to be
determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and
location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
Final Determination
Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that
Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the
date of its preliminary determination. Accordlingly, Commerce will make
its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date
of this preliminary determination.
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 of sales at LTFV. 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 the subject merchandise 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: April 29, 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 scope of the investigation covers hexamine in granular form,
with a particle size of 5 millimeters or less, whether stabilized or
unstabilized, whether or not blended, mixed, pulverized, or grounded
with other products, containing 50 percent or more hexamine by
weight.
Hexamine is the common name for hexamethylene tetramine
(Chemical Abstract Service # 100-97-0), and is also referred to as
1,3,5,7-tetraazaadamantanemethenamine; HMT; HMTA; 1,3,5,7-
tetraazatricyclo {3.3.1.13,7{time} decane; 1,3,5,7-tetraaza
adamantane; hexamethylenamine. Hexamine has the chemical formula
C6H12N4.
Granular hexamine that has been blended with other product(s) is
included in this scope when the resulting mix contains 50 percent or
more of hexamine by weight, regardless of whether it is blended with
inert additives, co-reactants, or any additives that undergo self-
condensation.
Subject merchandise includes merchandise matching the above
description that has been processed in a third country, including by
commingling, diluting, adding or removing additives, or performing
any other processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise
from the scope of the investigations if performed in the subject
country.
Merchandise covered by the scope of the investigation can be
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTSUS) of the United
States under the subheading 2933.69.5000. The HTSUS subheading and
Chemical Abstracts Service registry number are provided for
convenience and customs purposes only; however, 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. Discussion of the Methodology
V. Adjustment Under Section 777A(f) of the Act
VI. Adjustment To Cash Deposit Rate For Export Subsidies
VII. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2025-07802 Filed 5-5-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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