Certain Paper Plates From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[C-570-165]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Certain Paper Plates From the People's Republic of China: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part</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) determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain paper plates (paper plates) from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of investigation is January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable January 28, 2025. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Sun Cho, AD/CVD Operations, Office V, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-6458. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> On July 1, 2024, Commerce published its <E T="03">Preliminary Determination</E> in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> and invited interested parties to comment. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> The deadline for the final determination is now January 21, 2025. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Certain Paper Plates from the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part, and Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination,</E> 89 FR 54432 (July 1, 2024) ( <E T="03">Preliminary Determination</E> ), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum (PDM). </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> A summary of the events that occurred since Commerce published the <E T="03">Preliminary Determination,</E> as well as a full discussion of the issues raised by parties for this final determination, may be found in the Issues and Decision Memorandum. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> The Issues and Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public 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 Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at <E T="03">https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx</E> <E T="03">.</E> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Final Affirmative Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Paper Plates from the People's Republic of China,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Scope of the Investigation</HD> The products covered by this investigation are paper plates 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> We received no comments from interested parties on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the <E T="03">Preliminary Determination.</E> Therefore, we made no changes to the scope of the investigation. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Analysis of Subsidy Programs and Comments Received</HD> The subsidy programs under investigation, and the issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs that were submitted by parties in this investigation, are discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum. For a list of the issues raised by interested parties and addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, <E T="03">see</E> Appendix II. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Methodology</HD> Commerce conducted this investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). For each of the subsidy programs found to be countervailable, Commerce determines that there is a subsidy, <E T="03">i.e.,</E> a financial contribution by an “authority” that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is specific. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> For a full description of the methodology underlying our final determination, <E T="03">see</E> the Issues and Decision Memorandum. <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding financial contribution; <E T="03">see also</E> section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity. </FTNT> In making this final determination, Commerce relied, in part, on facts otherwise available, including with an adverse inference (AFA), pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act. For a full discussion of our application of AFA, <E T="03">see</E> the <E T="03">Preliminary Determination,</E> <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> and the Issues and Decision Memorandum section entitled “Use of Facts Otherwise Available and Application of Adverse Inferences.” <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See Preliminary Determination</E> PDM at 8-32. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Verification</HD> As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, in August and September 2024, we conducted verification of information submitted by Fuzhou Hengli Paper Co., Ltd. (Fuzhou Hengli) and Jinhua P&P Product Co., Ltd. (Jinhua P&P) for use in our final determination. We used standard verification procedures, including an examination of relevant accounting records, and original source documents provided by Fuzhou Hengli and Jinhua P&P. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memoranda, “Verification of Fuzhou Hengli Paper Co., Ltd. Questionnaire Responses,” dated October 9, 2024; “Verification of Jinhua P&P Product Co., Ltd. Questionnaire Responses,” dated October 9, 2024; and “Export Buyer's Credit Program Questionnaire Response Verification (Customer A),” dated October 9, 2024. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Final Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part</HD> Commerce preliminarily determined, in accordance with sections 703(e)(1)(A) and (B) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.206, that critical circumstances existed with respect to imports of subject merchandise for Fuzhou Hengli, the “all-other” producers and/or exporters, and four companies who did not respond to our quantity and value questionnaire (hereinafter referred to as the “non-responsive companies”), <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> and did not exist for Jinhua P&P. <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> For this final determination, in accordance with section 705(a)(2) of the Act, Commerce continues to find that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of subject merchandise for Fuzhou Hengli, all-other producers and/or exporters, and the non-responsive companies, and do not exist with respect to imports of subject merchandise for Jinhua P&P. For a full description of the methodology and results of our critical circumstances analysis, <E T="03">see</E> the Issues and Decision Memorandum. <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>  These companies are: (1) Ningbo Artcool Co., Ltd.; (2) Ningbo Fenghua Yongfa Printing Stationery Co., Ltd.; (3) Zhejiang Kingsun Eco-Pack Co., Ltd.; and (4) Zhejiang Lingrong Crafts Co., Ltd. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>   <E T="03">See Preliminary Determination</E> PDM at 7. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Changes Since the Preliminary Determination</HD> Based on our analysis of the comments received from interested parties and our verification findings, we made certain changes to the subsidy rate calculations for Fuzhou Hengli and Jinhua P&P. For a discussion of these changes, <E T="03">see</E> the Issues and Decision Memorandum. <HD SOURCE="HD1">All-Others Rate</HD> Pursuant to section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, Commerce will determine an all-others rate equal to the weighted-average countervailable subsidy rates established for exporters and/or producers individually examined, excluding any rates that are zero, <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or rates based entirely under section 776 of the Act. In this investigation, Commerce calculated total net subsidy rates for Fuzhou Hengli and Jinhua P&P that are not zero, <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or based entirely on the facts otherwise available. Because Commerce calculated individual estimated countervailable subsidy rates for Fuzhou Hengli and Jinhua P&P that are not zero, <E T="03">de minimis,</E> or based entirely on the facts otherwise available, we have calculated the all-others rate using a weighted-average of the individual estimated subsidy rates calculated for the examined respondents using each company's publicly-ranged sales values. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Final Determination</HD> Commerce determines that the following estimated countervailable subsidy rates exist: <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,tp0,i1" CDEF="s50,12"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Company</CHED> <CHED H="1"> Subsidy rate (percent <E T="03">ad valorem</E> <ENT I="01">Fuzhou Hengli Paper Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>11.38</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Jinhua P&P Product Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>4.47</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Ningbo Artcool Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>* 295.08</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Ningbo Fenghua Yongfa Printing Stationery Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>* 295.08</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Zhejiang Kingsun Eco-Pack Co., Ltd</ENT> <ENT>* 295.08</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Z ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 21k characters. 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