Certain Polyethylene Terephthalate Resin From Canada, the People's Republic of China, India, and the Sultanate of Oman: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Determination (Sultanate of Oman) and Antidumping Duty Orders

AGENCY:

Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY:

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce (the “Department”) and the International Trade Commission (the “ITC”), the Department is issuing antidumping duty orders on certain polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) resin from Canada, the People's Republic of China (“PRC”), India, and the Sultanate of Oman (“Oman”). In addition, as a result of a ministerial error, the Department is amending its final determination of sales at less-than-fair-value (“LTFV”) with regard to PET resin from Oman.

DATES:

Effective May 6, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karine Gziryan at (202) 482-4081 (Canada), Steve Bezirganian at (202) 482-1131 (PRC), Fred Baker at (202) 482-2924 (India), or Jonathan Hill at (202) 482-3518 (Oman), AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

In accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the “Act”), and 19 CFR 351.210(c), on March 14, 2016, the Department published its affirmative final determinations in the LTFV investigations of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman. On March 14, 2016, the Department received a timely allegation from OCTAL SAOC—FZC (“OCTAL”) that the Department made ministerial errors in the final determination in the AD investigation of PET resin from Oman. The Department analyzed OCTAL's comments and determined that ministerial errors exist, as defined by section 735(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(f). See “Amendment to Oman Final Determination” section below for further discussion.

On April 28, 2016, the ITC notified the Department of its affirmative determination that an industry in the United States is materially injured within the meaning of section 735(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, by reason of the LTFV imports of certain PET resin from Canada, India, the PRC, and Oman and its determination that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of subject merchandise from India that are subject to the Department's affirmative critical circumstances finding.

Scope of the Orders

The merchandise covered by these orders is PET resin having an intrinsic viscosity of at least 0.70, but not more than 0.88, deciliters per gram. The scope includes blends of virgin PET resin and recycled PET resin containing 50 percent or more virgin PET resin content by weight, provided such blends meet the intrinsic viscosity requirements above. The scope includes all PET resin meeting the above specifications regardless of additives introduced in the manufacturing process. The merchandise subject to these orders is properly classified under subheading 3907.60.00.30 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the merchandise covered by these orders is dispositive.

Amendment to Oman Final Determination

On March 14, 2016, OCTAL submitted an allegation claiming that the Department made a ministerial error because its comparison market program failed to recognize the gross unit prices for all home market sales transactions invoiced in United States Dollars (“USD”). A ministerial error is defined as an error in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function, clerical error resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the like, and any other similar type of unintentional error which the Secretary considers ministerial.

The Department reviewed the record and agrees that the error referenced in OCTAL's allegation constitutes a ministerial error within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.224(f). Specifically, the Department inadvertently omitted from its price comparisons the gross unit prices reported in the comparison market database for sales transactions in which the gross unit price was reported in USD. As a result of this omission, normal value (“NV”) was not calculated for all of OCTAL's comparison market sales transactions and thus, a comparison between U.S. sales prices and NVs using all appropriate NVs was not made. Accordingly, because NV was not calculated for all comparison market sales, the Department is revising the comparison market programing language in a manner which will result in the program recognizing the gross unit prices of sales transactions for which the gross unit price was reported in USD. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(f), the Department is amending the Oman Final to reflect the correction of the ministerial error described above. Based on our correction, OCTAL's weighted-average dumping margin decreased from 7.82 percent to 7.62 percent. In addition, because the “all-others” rate is based on OCTAL's dumping margin, the Department has revised the all-others rate in this amended final determination accordingly.

Antidumping Duty Orders

As stated above, on April 28, 2016, in accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, the ITC notified the Department of its final determinations in these investigations, in which it found that an industry in the United States is materially injured by reason of imports of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman and that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of subject merchandise from India that are subject to the Department's affirmative critical circumstances finding. Therefore, in accordance with section 735(c)(2) of the Act, the Department is issuing these antidumping duty orders. Because the ITC determined that imports of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman are materially injuring a U.S. industry, unliquidated entries of such merchandise from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman, entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, are subject to the assessment of antidumping duties.

Therefore, in accordance with section 736(a)(1) of the Act, the Department will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) to assess, upon further instruction by the Department, antidumping duties equal to the amount by which the NV of the merchandise exceeds the export price (or constructed export price) of the merchandise, for all relevant entries of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman. Antidumping duties will be assessed on unliquidated entries of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after October 15, 2015, the date of publication of the preliminary determinations, but will not include entries occurring after the expiration of the provisional measures period and before publication of the ITC's final injury determination as further described below.

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, the Department will instruct CBP to continue to suspend liquidation on all relevant entries of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman. These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.

The Department will also instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the amounts as indicated below, which are adjusted for certain countervailable subsidies, where appropriate, as described below. Accordingly, effective on the date of publication of the ITC's final affirmative injury determinations, CBP will require, at the same time as importers would normally deposit estimated duties on this subject merchandise, a cash deposit equal to the cash deposit rates listed below. The relevant all-others rates apply to all producers or exporters not specifically listed. For the purpose of determining cash deposit rates, the estimated weighted-average dumping margins for imports of subject merchandise from the PRC and India have been adjusted, as appropriate, for export subsidies found in the final determinations of the companion countervailing duty investigations of this merchandise imported from the PRC and India. Regarding the cash deposit rates for subject merchandise from the PRC, estimated weighted-average dumping margins were also adjusted, where appropriate, for estimated domestic subsidy pass-through.

Provisional Measures

Section 733(d) of the Act states that instructions issued pursuant to an affirmative preliminary determination may not remain in effect for more than four months, except where exporters representing a significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise request the Department to extend that four-month period to no more than six months. At the request of exporters that account for a significant proportion of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman, the Department extended the four-month period to six months in each case. In the underlying investigations, the Department published the preliminary determinations on October 15, 2015. Therefore, the extended period, beginning on the date of publication of the preliminary determination, ended on April 11, 2016. Furthermore, section 737(b) of the Act states that definitive duties are to begin on the date of publication of the ITC's final injury determination.

Therefore, in accordance with section 733(d) of the Act and our practice, the Department will instruct CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation and to liquidate, without regard to antidumping duties, unliquidated entries of certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption after April 11, 2016, the date on which the provisional measures expired, until and through the day preceding the date of publication of the ITC's final injury determinations in the Federal Register. Suspension of liquidation will resume on the date of publication of the ITC's final determination in the Federal Register.

Critical Circumstances

With regard to the ITC's negative critical circumstances determination on imports of subject merchandise from India, the Department will instruct CBP to lift suspension and to refund any cash deposits made to secure the payment of estimated antidumping duties with respect to entries of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after July 17, 2015 (i.e., 90 days prior to the date of publication of the India Prelim), but before October 15, 2015, (i.e., the date of publication of the India Prelim).

Estimated Weighted-Average Dumping Margins

The weighted-average antidumping duty margin percentages and cash deposit rates are as follows:

This notice constitutes the antidumping duty orders with respect to certain PET resin from Canada, the PRC, India, and Oman pursuant to section 736(a) of the Act. Interested parties can find a list of antidumping duty orders currently in effect at http://enforcement.trade.gov/stats/iastats1.html.

These orders are published in accordance with section 736(a) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.211(b).