Certain Paper Plates From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[A-552-839]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Certain Paper Plates From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part, Postponement of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that certain paper plates (paper plates) from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is July 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable September 5, 2024. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Bryan Hansen, AD/CVD Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3683. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> 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 in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on February 26, 2024. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On June 12, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation until August 22, 2024. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> The deadline for the preliminary determination is now August 29, 2024. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Certain Paper Plates from the People's Republic of China, Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations,</E> 89 FR 14046 (February 26, 2024) ( <E T="03">Initiation Notice</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See Certain Paper Plates from the People's Republic of China, Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations,</E> 89 FR 49833 (June 12, 2024). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings,” dated July 22, 2024. </FTNT> For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, <E T="03">see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> 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 <E T="03">https://access.trade.gov.</E> In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at <E T="03">https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.</E> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value of Certain Paper Plates from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Investigation</HD> The products covered by this investigation are certain paper plates from Vietnam. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, <E T="03">see</E> Appendix I. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope Comments</HD> In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations, <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> the <E T="03">Initiation Notice</E> set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> scope). <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the <E T="03">Initiation Notice.</E> Commerce is not preliminarily modifying the scope language as it appeared in the <E T="03">Initiation Notice. See</E> the scope in Appendix I to this notice. <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties,</E> 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See Initiation Notice,</E> 89 FR at 14047. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Methodology</HD> 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. Because Vietnam is a non-market economy country, within the meaning of section 771(18) of the Act, <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> Normal value is calculated in accordance with section 773(c) of the Act. In addition, pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available, with adverse inferences, for the Vietnam-wide entity. For a full description of the methodology underlying the preliminary determination, <E T="03">see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See Raw Honey from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review,</E> 89 FR 64411 (August 7, 2024). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part</HD> In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, Commerce preliminarily finds that critical circumstances exist for the Vietnam-Wide entity but not for Go-Pak Paper Products Vietnam Co., Ltd. For a full description of the methodology and results of Commerce's analysis, <E T="03">see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Combination Rates</HD> In the <E T="03">Initiation Notice,</E> <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> 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. <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> In this investigation, we assigned a producer/exporter combination rate for Go-Pak Paper Products Vietnam Co., Ltd., <E T="03">i.e.,</E> the sole respondent eligible for a separate rate. <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>   <E T="03">See Initiation Notice,</E> 89 FR at 14051. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 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 <E T="03">https://access.trade.gov/Resources/policy/bull05-1.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Preliminary Determination</HD> Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist: <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,nj,tp0,i1" CDEF="s50,r50,15,15"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Exporter</CHED> <CHED H="1">Producer</CHED> <CHED H="1"> Weighted-average dumping margin (percent) </CHED> <CHED H="1"> Cash deposit rate (adjusted for export subsidy offset) (percent) </CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Go-Pak Paper Products Vietnam Co., Ltd.</ENT> <ENT>Go-Pak Paper Products Vietnam Co., Ltd.</ENT> <ENT>0.00</ENT> <ENT>0.00</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Vietnam-Wide Entity</ENT> <ENT/> <ENT>* 165.27</ENT> <ENT>159.79</ENT> </ROW> <TNOTE>* Rate based on facts available with adverse inferences.</TNOTE> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Suspension of Liquidation</HD> In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, for companies included in the Vietnam-wide entity, 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 which is 90 days before the date of publication of this notice in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . 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 table above, as follows: (1) for the Vietnam-wide entity, the cash deposit rate is equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin listed in the table; (2) for all combinations of Vietnamese producers/exporters of merchandise under consideration that have not established eligibility for their own separate rates, the cash deposit rate will be equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for the Vietnam-wide entity; and (3) for all third-country exporters of merchandise under consideration not listed in the table above, the cash deposit rate is the cash deposit rate applicable to the Vietnamese producer/exporter combination that supplied that third-country exporter, or, if the exporter/producer combination does not have its own rate, the cash deposit rate will be the Vietnam-wide rate. Because the estimated weighted-average dumping margin for a certain producer/exporter combination is zero or <E T="03">de minimis</E> ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> less than 0.5 percent), Commerce is directing CBP not to suspend liquidation of entries of subject merchandise from that producer/exporter combination. Entries of subject merc ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 25k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━