Low Melt Polyester Staple Fiber From the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2023-2024

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>International Trade Administration</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[A-580-895]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Low Melt Polyester Staple Fiber From the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2023-2024</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 finds that the sole producer/exporter subject to this administrative review made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value (NV) during the period of review August 1, 2023, through July 31, 2024. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Applicable February 10, 2026. </DATES> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Nathan Araya, AD/CVD Operations, Office II, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3401, respectively. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> On August 16, 2018, Commerce published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> an antidumping duty order on low melt polyester staple fiber (low melt PSF) from the Republic of Korea (Korea). <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> On August 1, 2024, Commerce published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> a notice of opportunity to request an administrative review of the AD order on low melt PSF from Korea. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> On September 20, 2024, based on a timely request for review, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), we initiated an administrative review of the <E T="03">Order.</E> <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> The review covers one producer/exporter of the subject merchandise, Toray Advanced Materials Korea, Inc. (TAK). <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See Low Melt Polyester Staple Fiber from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan: Antidumping Duty Orders,</E> 83 FR 40752 (August 16, 2018) ( <E T="03">Order</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative Review and Join Annual Inquiry Service List,</E> 89 FR 62714 (August 1, 2024). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews,</E> 89 FR 77079 (September 20, 2024). </FTNT> On December 9, 2024, Commerce tolled the deadline for the preliminary results of this administrative review by 90 days. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> On June 17, 2025, in accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(2), Commerce extended the deadline for the preliminary results by 120 days until December 1, 2025. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> Additionally, due to the lapse in appropriations and Federal Government shutdown, on November 14, 2025, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative proceedings by 47 days. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> Finally, due to a backlog of documents that were electronically filed via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS) during the Federal Government shutdown, on November 24, 2025, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative proceedings by an additional 21 days. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> Accordingly, the deadline for these preliminary results is now February 5, 2026. <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Tolling of Deadlines for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings,” dated December 9, 2024. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Extension of Deadline for Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,” dated June 17, 2025. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Deadlines Affected by the Shutdown of the Federal Government,” dated November 14, 2025. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Tolling of All Case Deadlines,” dated November 24, 2025. </FTNT> For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this review, <E T="03">see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as an appendix to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via 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>8</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> Memorandum, “Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Results of the 2023-2024 Administrative Review of the Antidumping Duty Order on Low Melt Polyester Staple Fiber from the Republic of Korea,” dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1"> Scope of the Order  <E T="51">9</E> 83 FR at 40752. </FTNT> The merchandise subject to the <E T="03">Order</E> is synthetic staple fibers, not carded or combed, specifically bi-component polyester fibers having a polyester fiber component that melts at a lower temperature than the other polyester fiber component. For a complete description of the scope of the <E T="03">Order, see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Methodology</HD> Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with sections 751(a)(1)(B) and (2) of the Act. We calculated export price and NV in accordance with sections 772 and 773 of the Act, respectively. For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, <E T="03">see</E> the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Preliminary Results of Review</HD> We preliminarily determine that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margin exists for the period August 1, 2023, through July 31, 2024: <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,nj,tp0,i1" CDEF="s25,9C"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Exporter/producer</CHED> <CHED H="1"> Weighted-average dumping margin (percent) </CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Toray Advanced Materials Korea, Inc</ENT> <ENT>3.02</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Disclosure</HD> Commerce intends to disclose its calculations and analysis performed to interested parties for these preliminary results within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Public Comment</HD> Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii), we have modified the deadline for interested parties to submit case briefs to Commerce to no later than 21 days after the date of publication of this notice. <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed no later than five days after the time limit for filing case briefs. <SU>11</SU> <FTREF/> 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. <SU>12</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>11</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.309(d); <E T="03">see also Administrative Protective Order, Service, and Other Procedures in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings,</E> 88 FR 67069, 67077 (September 29, 2023) ( <E T="03">APO and Service Procedures</E> ). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>12</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2). </FTNT> As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2)(iii) and (d)(2)(iii), we request that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. <SU>13</SU> <FTREF/> Further, we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final results in this administrative review. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the public executive summary of each issue. <FTNT> <SU>13</SU>  We use the term “issue” here to describe an argument that Commerce would normally address in a comment of the Issues and Decision Memorandum. </FTNT> Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, filed electronically via ACCESS, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . Hearing requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) a list of issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to issues raised in the respective case briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a date and time to be determined. <SU>14</SU> <FTREF/> Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date. <FTNT> <SU>14</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> 19 CFR 351.310(d). </FTNT> All submissions, including case and rebuttal briefs, as well as hearing requests, should be filed via ACCESS. An ele ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 18k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━