Notice2025-18983
Silicon Metal From the Lao People's Democratic Republic: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
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 30, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that silicon metal from the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos) is being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 187 (Tuesday, September 30, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 187 (Tuesday, September 30, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46807-46809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18983]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-553-001]
Silicon Metal From the Lao People's Democratic Republic:
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily
determines that silicon metal from the Lao People's Democratic Republic
(Laos) is being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less
than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1,
2024, through March 31, 2025. Interested parties are invited to comment
on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Applicable September 30, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Cossaart, AD/CVD Operations,
Office IX, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0462.
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 May 21,
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 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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\1\ See Silicon Metal from Angola, Australia, the Lao People's
Democratic Republic, and Norway: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value
Investigations, 90 FR 21741 (May 21, 2025) (Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation
of Silicon Metal from the Lao People's Democratic Republic,'' 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 silicon metal from
Laos. 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\ 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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\3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
\4\ See Initiation Notice, 90 FR at 21741.
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Methodology
Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) and (b) of the Act,
Commerce has preliminarily relied upon the facts otherwise available
with adverse inferences for Lao Silicon Co., Ltd. (Lao Silicon). For a
full description of the methodology underlying the preliminary
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
In the Petition,\5\ the petitioners argued that Commerce should
determine in this investigation that Laos is a non-market economy (NME)
within the meaning of section 771(18)(A) of the Act and calculate
normal value for Laos in accordance with Commerce's NME methodology.\6\
Commerce intends to issue the results of its inquiry of Laos's market
economy status in a post-preliminary analysis.
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\5\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Petitions for the Imposition of
Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Silicon Metal from the
Republic of Angola, Australia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic,
Norway, and the Kingdom of Thailand,'' dated April 24, 2025
(Petition). The petitioners are Ferroglobe USA, Inc. and Mississippi
Silicon LLC.
\6\ Id. at Volume V (pages 1-2 and Exhibit V-1).
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All-Others Rate
Sections 733(d)(1)(A)(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.
Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the estimated
weighted-average dumping margins established for all exporters or
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 weighted-average dumping
margin for all other producers and exporters. Commerce has
preliminarily determined the estimated weighted-average dumping margin
for the only individually examined respondent under section 776 of the
Act. Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce's normal
practice under these circumstances has been to calculate the all-others
rate as a simple average of the alleged dumping margins from the
petition.\7\ However, there is only one estimated dumping margin in the
Petition (i.e., 94.44 percent).\8\ Therefore, consistent with
Commerce's practice, we have preliminary assigned the dumping margin of
94.44 percent as the all-others rate in this investigation.
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\7\ See, e.g., Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at
Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite from the Federal Republic of
Germany, 73 FR 21909, 21912 (April 23, 2008), unchanged in Notice of
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite
from the Federal Republic of Germany, 73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8,
2008), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2;
see also Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value: Raw Flexible Magnets from Taiwan, 73 FR 39673, 39674 (July
10, 2008); Steel Threaded Rod from Thailand: Preliminary
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative
Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, 78 FR 79670,
79671 (December 31, 2013), unchanged in Steel Threaded Rod from
Thailand: Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and
Affirmative Final Determination of Critical Circumstances, 79 FR
14476, 14477 (March 14, 2014).
\8\ See Initiation Notice, 90 FR at 21744.
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Preliminary Determination
Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
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Weighted-
average
Producer or exporter dumping margin
(percent)
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Lao Silicon Co., Ltd.................................... * 94.44
All Others.............................................. 94.44
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* Rate based on facts available with adverse inferences.
Suspension of Liquidation and Cash Deposit Requirements
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, 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 estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-
others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for the company
listed
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above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average
dumping margin determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the
exporter is not a company 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; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other
producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated
weighted-average dumping margin. These suspension of liquidation
instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
Disclosure
Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations
performed in connection with a 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 the notice of
preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with
19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA
to the individually examined company 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.
Verification
Because the individually examined respondent in this investigation
did not provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce
preliminarily determines the examined respondent to have been
uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.
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 Commerce issues its post-preliminary
analysis in this LTFV investigation. A timeline for the submission of
case briefs and written comments will be provided to interested parties
at a later date. 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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\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 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.\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
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 will inform parties of the time and date for the hearing.
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. Accordingly, 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. 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 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: 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 I
Scope of the Investigation
The scope of this investigation covers all forms and sizes of
silicon metal, including silicon metal powder. Silicon metal
contains at least 85.00 percent but less than 99.99 percent silicon,
and less than 4.00 percent iron, by actual weight. Semiconductor
grade silicon (merchandise containing at least 99.99 percent silicon
by actual weight and classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule
of the United States (HTSUS) subheading 2804.61.0000) is excluded
from the scope of this investigation.
Silicon metal is currently classifiable under subheadings
2804.69.1000 and 2804.69.5000 of the HTSUS. While the HTSUS numbers
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written
description of the scope remains dispositive.
Appendix II
List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Post-Preliminary Determination
V. Application of Facts Available with Adverse Inferences
VI. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2025-18983 Filed 9-29-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 30, 2025.
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