Disposable Aluminum Containers, Pans, Trays, and Lids From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[A-570-170]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Disposable Aluminum Containers, Pans, Trays, and Lids From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances</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 disposable aluminum containers, pans, trays, and lids (aluminum containers) from the People's Republic of China (China) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is October 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable December 30, 2024. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Matthew Palmer or Kate Fracke, 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) 482-1678 or (202) 482-3299, respectively. </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 on June 12, 2024. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> On October 8, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> The deadline for the preliminary determination is now December 19, 2024. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Disposable Aluminum Containers, Pans, Trays, and Lids from the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation,</E> 89 FR 49837 (June 12, 2024) ( <E T="03">Initiation Notice</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings,” dated July 22, 2024. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See Aluminum Containers, Pans, Trays, and Lids from the People's Republic of China: Postponement of Preliminary Determination in the Less-Than-Fair Value Investigation,</E> 89 FR 81425 (October 8, 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 found 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 in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Disposable Aluminum Containers, Pans, Trays, and Lids from the People's Republic of China,” 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 aluminum containers from China. 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 <E T="03">Preamble</E> 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> As a result, 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, Final Rule,</E> 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) ( <E T="03">Preamble</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See Initiation Notice,</E> 89 FR at 49838. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Methodology</HD> Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act, we have preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available with adverse inferences (AFA) for the China-wide entity, including each of the companies selected for individual examination that later withdrew their participation: Ungar Automation Technology Co., Ltd.; Able Packaging Jiangsu Co., Ltd.; and Henan Aluminium Corporation (Henan Aluminum). For a full description of the methodology underlying Commerce's preliminary determination, <E T="03">see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances</HD> In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, Commerce preliminarily determines that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of aluminum containers from China for the separate-rate companies and the China-wide entity. For a full description of the methodology and results of Commerce's critical circumstances 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>7</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>8</SU> <FTREF/> In this investigation, we calculated producer/exporter combination rates for respondents eligible for separate rates. <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See Initiation Notice,</E> 89 FR at 49841. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>8</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">enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Separate Rates</HD> We have preliminarily granted a separate rate to certain separate rate respondents that we did not select for individual examination. <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> In calculating the rate for non-individually examined separate rate respondents in a non-market economy LTFV investigation, Commerce normally looks to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, which pertains to the calculation of the all-others rate in a market economy LTFV investigation, for guidance. Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, normally this rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for those companies individually-examined, excluding any dumping margins that are zero, <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or based entirely under section 776 of the Act. <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum for additional details. </FTNT> Because each company selected for individual examination in this investigation subsequently notified Commerce of its withdrawal from participation, the estimated weighted-average dumping margins in this preliminary determination are based entirely under section 776 of the Act. In investigations where no estimated weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or those determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established for individually-examined entities, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically calculates a simple average of the margins alleged in the petition and applies the results to the entities not individually examined but found eligible for a separate rate. <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> In this investigation, the simple average of the rates in the Petition is 193.90 percent. <FTREF/> <SU>11</SU> <E T="03">See</E> the table below in the “Preliminary Determination” section of this notice. <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>   <E T="03">See Certain Pea Protein from the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Final Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination,</E> 89 FR 55559 (July 5, 2024). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>11</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Petitioners' Letter, “Antidumping Duty Petition Volume II China,” dated May 16, 2024 (Petition), at Exhibit AD-CN-5. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Preliminary Determination</HD> Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist: <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,nj,tp0,i1" CDEF="s75,r75,9"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Producer</CHED> <CHED H="1">Exporter</CHED> <ENT I="01">Foshan Bossfoil Aluminum Products Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>Aikou Packaging Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>193.90</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Guangzhou Huafeng Aluminum Foil Technologies Co. Ltd</ENT> <ENT>Guangzhou Huafeng Aluminum Foil Technologies Co. Ltd</ENT> <ENT>193.90</ENT> ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 26k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━