Notice2025-18882
Sol Gel Alumina-Based Ceramic Abrasive Grains From the People's Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order and Countervailing Duty Order
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 29, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on sol gel alumina-based ceramic abrasive grains (ceramic abrasive grains) from the People's Republic of China (China).
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 186 (Monday, September 29, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 186 (Monday, September 29, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46555-46557]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18882]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-190, C-570-191]
Sol Gel Alumina-Based Ceramic Abrasive Grains From the People's
Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order and Countervailing Duty Order
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: Based on affirmative final determinations by the U.S.
Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade
Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing the antidumping duty (AD) and
countervailing duty (CVD) orders on sol gel alumina-based ceramic
abrasive grains (ceramic abrasive grains) from the People's Republic of
China (China).
DATES: Applicable September 29, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Cloyd (AD China) or Suresh
Maniam (CVD China), 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 or (202) 482-1603, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In accordance with sections 705(d) and 735(d) of the Tariff Act of
1930, as amended (the Act), on August 15, 2025, Commerce published its
affirmative final determination of sales at less than fair value (LTFV)
of ceramic abrasive grains from China,\1\ and its affirmative final
determination that countervailable subsidies are being provided to
producers and exporters of ceramic abrasive grains from China.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Sol Gel Alumina-Based Ceramic Abrasive Grains from the
People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales
at Less Than Fair Value, 90 FR 39366 (August 15, 2025) (Final LTFV
Determination).
\2\ See Sol Gel Alumina-Based Ceramic Abrasive Grains from the
People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty
Determination, 90 FR 39367 (August 15, 2025) (Final CVD
Determination).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On September 19, 2025, pursuant to sections 705(d) and 735(d) of
the Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final affirmative
determinations that an industry in the United States is materially
injured by reason of dumping imports of ceramic abrasive grains from
China, and subsidized imports of ceramic abrasive grains from China,
within the meaning of sections 705(b)(1)(A)(i) and 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of
the Act.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See ITC's Letter, ``Notification of ITC Final
Determinations,'' dated September 19, 2025 (ITC Notification
Letter).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scope of the Orders
The products covered by these orders are ceramic abrasive grains
from China. For a complete description of the scope of the orders, see
the Appendix to this notice.
AD Order
On September 19, 2025, in accordance with section 735(d) of the
Act, the ITC notified Commerce of its final determination that an
industry in the United States is materially injured within the meaning
of section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act by reason of imports of ceramic
abrasive grains from China that are sold in the United States at less
than fair value.\4\ Therefore, in accordance with section 735(c)(2) and
736 of the Act, Commerce is issuing this AD order. Because the ITC
determined that imports of ceramic abrasive grains from China are
materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such
merchandise from China, entered or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption are subject to the assessment of antidumping duties.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, in accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act,
Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, antidumping duties equal
to the amount by which the normal value of the merchandise exceeds the
export price (or constructed export price) of the merchandise on all
relevant entries of ceramic abrasive grains from China. Antidumping
duties will be assessed on unliquidated entries of ceramic abrasive
grains entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or
after June 2, 2025, the date of publication of the Preliminary LTFV
Determination.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ See Sol Gel Alumina-Based Ceramic Abrasive Grains from the
People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of
Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 90 FR 23319 (June 2, 2025)
(Preliminary LTFV Determination).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits--AD
Commerce intends to instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation
on all relevant entries of ceramic abrasive grains from China, in
accordance with section 736 of the Act. These instructions suspending
liquidations will remain in effect until further notice.
Commerce also intends to instruct CBP to require cash deposits
equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin indicated in the
table below, adjusted by the relevant subsidy offsets. Accordingly,
effective on the date of publication in the Federal Register of the
notice of the ITC's final affirmative injury determination, CBP must
require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit estimated
customs duties on subject merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the
rates listed in the table below.
Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins
The estimated weighted-average dumping margin is as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ This rate is based on facts available with adverse
inferences.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted-
average
Exporter/producer dumping
margin
(percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
China-wide Entity \6\...................................... * \7\ 88.32
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* This rate is based on facts available with adverse inferences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ See Final LTFV Determination. Commerce notes that the
Preliminary LTFV Determination and the Final LTFV Determination
incorrectly applied an export subsidy offset of 16.10 percent ad
valorem. The correct export subsidy offset is 0.00 percent ad
valorem, pursuant to Commerce's Final CVD Determination.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CVD Order
As stated above, based on the above-referenced affirmative final
determination by the ITC that an industry in the United States is
[[Page 46556]]
materially injured within the meaning of section 705(b)(1)(A)(i) of the
Act by reason of subsidized imports of ceramic abrasive grains from
China,\8\ in accordance with section 705(c)(2) of the Act, Commerce is
issuing this CVD order. Moreover, because the ITC determined that
imports of ceramic abrasive grains from China are materially injuring a
U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of subject merchandise from China,
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, are subject to
the assessment of countervailing duties.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ See ITC Notification Letter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, in accordance with section 706(a) of the Act, Commerce
intends to direct CBP to assess, upon further instructions by Commerce,
countervailing duties on all relevant entries of ceramic abrasive
grains from China, which are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption on or after May 22, 2025, the date of publication of the
Preliminary CVD Determination,\9\ but will not include entries
occurring after the expiration of the provisional measures period and
before the publication of the ITC's final injury determination under
section 705(b) of the Act, as further described in the ``Provisional
Measures--CVD'' section of this notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ See Sol Gel Alumina-Based Ceramic Abrasive Grains from the
People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing
Duty Determination, 90 FR 21893 (May 22, 2025) (Preliminary CVD
Determination).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposits--CVD
In accordance with section 706 of the Act, Commerce intends to
instruct CBP to reinstitute the suspension of liquidation of ceramic
abrasive grains from China, effective on the date of publication of the
ITC's final affirmative injury determination in the Federal Register,
and to assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, pursuant to
section 706(a)(1) of the Act, countervailing duties on each entry of
subject merchandise in an amount based on the net countervailable
subsidy rates below. On or after the date of publication of the ITC's
final injury determination in the Federal Register, CBP must require,
at the same time as importers would normally deposit estimated customs
duties on this merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the rates listed in
the table below. These instructions suspending liquidation will remain
in effect until further notice. The all-others rate applies to all
producers or exporters not specifically listed below, as appropriate.
Estimated Countervailing Duty Subsidy Rates
The estimated countervailing duty subsidy rates are as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subsidy rate (percent
Company ad valorem)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qingdao SISA Abrasives Co., Ltd................ * 165.05
Shandong Imerys Mount Tai Co., Ltd............. * 165.05
Futong Industry Co., Ltd....................... * 165.05
Guangzhou Qianyang Metals & Machine............ * 165.05
Kumthai Abrasives Co., Ltd..................... * 165.05
Luoyang Runbao Super Abrasives Co.............. * 165.05
More Superhard Products Co., Ltd............... * 165.05
Qingdao Roy Grinding Material Co............... * 165.05
Reckel Advanced Materials Co., Ltd............. * 165.05
Zhengshou Haixu Abrasives Co................... * 165.05
All Others..................................... 165.05
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* This rate is based on facts available with adverse inferences.
Provisional Measures--CVD
Section 703(d) of the Act states that the suspension of liquidation
pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in
effect for more than four months. Commerce published the Preliminary
CVD Determination on May 22, 2025.\10\ As such, the four-month period
beginning on the date of the publication of the Preliminary CVD
Determination ended on September 18, 2025.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In accordance with section 703(d) of the Act, we will instruct CBP
to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to liquidate, without
regard to countervailing duties, unliquidated entries of ceramic
abrasive grains from China entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption, on or after September 19, 2025, the date on which the
provisional measures expired, until and through the day preceding the
date of publication of the ITC's final injury determination in the
Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation and the collection of cash
deposits will resume on the date of publication of the ITC's
affirmative final injury determination in the Federal Register.
Establishment of the Annual Inquiry Service Lists
On September 20, 2021, Commerce published the Final Rule in the
Federal Register.\11\ On September 27, 2021, Commerce also published
the Procedural Guidance in the Federal Register.\12\ The Final Rule and
Procedural Guidance provide that Commerce will maintain an annual
inquiry service list for each order or suspended investigation, and any
interested party submitting a scope ruling application or request for
circumvention inquiry shall serve a copy of the application or request
on the persons on the annual inquiry service list for that order, as
well as any companion order covering the same merchandise from the same
country of origin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ See Regulations to Improve Administration and Enforcement
of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws, 86 FR 52300 (September
20, 2021) (Final Rule).
\12\ See Scope Ruling Application; Annual Inquiry Service List;
and Informational Sessions, 86 FR 53205 (September 27, 2021)
(Procedural Guidance).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 46557]]
In accordance with the Procedural Guidance, for orders published in
the Federal Register after November 4, 2021, Commerce will create an
annual inquiry service list segment in Commerce's online e-filing and
document management system, Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Electronic Service System (ACCESS), available at <a href="https://access.trade.gov">https://access.trade.gov</a>, within five business days of publication of the
notice of the order. Each annual inquiry service list will be saved in
ACCESS, under each case number, and under a specific segment type
called ``AISL-Annual Inquiry Service List.'' \13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ This segment will be combined with the ACCESS Segment
Specific Information (SSI) field which will display the month in
which the notice of the order or suspended investigation was
published in the Federal Register, also known as the anniversary
month. For example, for an order under case number A-000-000 that
was published in the Federal Register in January, the relevant
segment and SSI combination will appear in ACCESS as ``AISL-January
Anniversary.'' Note that there will be only one annual inquiry
service list segment per case number, and the anniversary month will
be pre-populated in ACCESS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interested parties who wish to be added to the annual inquiry
service list for an order must submit an entry of appearance to the
annual inquiry service list segment for the order in ACCESS within 30
days after the date of publication of the order. For ease of
administration, Commerce requests that law firms with more than one
attorney representing interested parties in an order designate a lead
attorney to be included on the annual inquiry service list. Commerce
will finalize the annual inquiry service list within five business days
thereafter. As mentioned in the Procedural Guidance,\14\ the new annual
inquiry service list will be in place until the following year, when
the Opportunity Notice for the anniversary month of the order is
published.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ See Procedural Guidance, 86 FR at 53206.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commerce may update an annual inquiry service list at any time as
needed based on interested parties' amendments to their entries of
appearance to remove or otherwise modify their list of members and
representatives, or to update contact information. Any changes or
announcements pertaining to these procedures will be posted to the
ACCESS website.
Special Instructions for Petitioner and Foreign Governments
In the Final Rule, Commerce stated that, ``after an initial request
and placement on the annual inquiry service list, both petitioners and
foreign governments will automatically be placed on the annual inquiry
service list in the years that follow.'' \15\ Accordingly, as stated
above, the petitioner and the Government of China should submit their
initial entries of appearance after publication of this notice in order
to appear in the first annual inquiry service lists for these orders.
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.225(n)(3), the petitioner and the Government of
China will not need to resubmit their entries of appearance each year
to continue to be included on the annual inquiry service list. However,
the petitioner and the Government of China are responsible for making
amendments to their entries of appearance during the annual update to
the annual inquiry service list in accordance with the procedures
described above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ See Final Rule, 86 FR at 52335.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notification to Interested Parties
This notice constitutes the AD order with respect to ceramic
abrasive grains from China and the CVD order with respect to ceramic
abrasive grains from China, pursuant to sections 706(a) and 736(a) of
the Act. Interested parties can find a list of AD and CVD orders
currently in effect at <a href="https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html">https://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html</a>.
These orders are published in accordance with sections 706(a) and
736(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).
Dated: September 24, 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
Scope of the Orders
The merchandise covered by these orders is sol gel alumina-based
ceramic abrasive grains which are comprised of minimum 94% aluminum
oxide (Al2O3), and may contain other compounds, including, but not
limited to, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, calcium oxide, sodium
superoxide, ferric oxide, magnesium oxide, di-aluminum magnesium
tetroxide, lanthanum oxide, lanthanum magnesium oxide, zirconium
dioxide, or zirconium carbonate. Grain sizes of sol gel alumina-
based ceramic abrasive grains range from 0.85 mm to 0.0395 mm (which
corresponds to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) grit
sizes from 20 to 280).
Shapes include but are not limited to angular, sharp, extra
sharp, blocky, splintery, round stripped, triangular or shaped like
extruded rods or stars.
Ceramic abrasive grains have unique crystalline structures that
impart certain advanced properties, such as their extreme hardness
and strength ranging between 16 and 22 gigapascals by the Vickers
Diamond Indent Method, high melting point (2050 [deg]C), and a
single- or multi-phase microstructure, which may contain multiple
phases, having crystalline sizes ranging from 0.05 to 30[micro]m.
These ceramic abrasive grains include but are not limited to blue,
white, white-translucent, or off-white opaque colors.
Sol gel alumina-based ceramic abrasive grains are covered by the
scope of these orders, whether or not incorporated into downstream
articles, including but not limited to, abrasive papers, grinding
wheels, grinding cylinders, and grinding discs. When incorporated
into downstream articles, only the sol gel alumina-based ceramic
abrasive grains component of such articles is covered by the product
scope, and not the downstream product as a whole.
The merchandise subject to these orders is properly classified
under subheadings 2818.10.2010 and 2818.10.2090 of the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Other merchandise
subject to the current scope, including when incorporated into the
abovementioned downstream articles, may be classified under HTSUS
subheadings 2818.10.1000, 2818.20.0000, 2818.30.0000, 3824.99.1100,
3824.99.1900, 6805.10.0000, 6805.20.0000, 6805.30.1000,
6805.30.5000, 6804.22.1000, 6804.22.4000, 6804.22.6000,
8204.12.0000, 8474.90.0010, 8474.90.0020, 8474.90.0050, and
8474.90.0090. Although the HTSUS statistical reporting numbers are
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written
description of the merchandise is dispositive.
[FR Doc. 2025-18882 Filed 9-26-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 29, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.