Ripe Olives From Spain: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2018-2019

AGENCY:

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

SUMMARY:

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds that producers or exporters subject to this administrative review made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value during the period of review (POR), January 26, 2018 through July 31, 2019. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

DATES:

Applicable December 28, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Yang Jin Chun or Dmitry Vladimirov, 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) 482-5760 or (202) 482-0665, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 7, 2019, Commerce initiated the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on ripe olives (olives) from Spain. On April 24, 2020, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative reviews by 50 days, thereby extending the deadline for these preliminary results until June 22, 2020. On June 2, 2020, Commerce extended the time limit for these preliminary results to October 19, 2020, in accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). On July 21, 2020, Commerce tolled all deadlines in administrative reviews by an additional 60 days, thereby extending the deadline for these preliminary results until December 18, 2020.

Scope of the Order

The merchandise subject to the order are ripe olives. For a complete description of the scope of this administrative review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Methodology

Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 751(a)(2) of the Act. Export price and constructed export price are calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Normal value is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see Preliminary Decision Memorandum. The Preliminary 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 http://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be found at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. A list of the topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is attached as an Appendix to this notice.

Preliminary Results of Review

We preliminarily determine that the following weighted-average dumping margins exist for the period January 26, 2018 through July 31, 2019.

Disclosure and Public Comment

We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties in this administrative review within five days after public announcement of the preliminary results in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c), interested parties may submit case briefs no later than 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than seven days after the date for filing case briefs. Commerce has modified certain of its requirements for serving documents containing business proprietary information until further notice. Parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

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, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) The party's name, address and telephone number; (2) the number of participants; and (3) a list of issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. If a request for a hearing is made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a time and date to be determined. An electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety by Commerce's electronic records system, ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.

Commerce intends to issue the final results of this administrative review, including the results of its analysis of the issues raised in any written briefs, no later than 120 days after the date of publication of this notice, unless extended, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act.

Assessment Rates

Upon completion of the final results, Commerce shall determine and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. If the weighted-average dumping margin for either Agro Sevilla Aceitunas S.COOP Andalusia, Angel Camacho Alimentacion S.L., or Alimentary Group Dcoop S. Coop. And., is not zero or de minimis in the final results of this review, we will calculate, for each company, an importer-specific assessment rate on the basis of the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for each importer's examined sales and the total entered value of such sales in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). If any of these companies' weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de minimis in the final results of review, or if an importer-specific assessment rate for one of these companies is zero or de minimis, Commerce will instruct CBP to liquidate appropriate entries without regards to antidumping duties. For entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by any of these companies for which it did not know its merchandise was destined for the United States, we will instruct CBP to liquidate unreviewed entries.

We intend to issue liquidation instructions to CBP fifteen days after publication of the final results of this review. The final results of this administrative review shall be the basis for the assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise under review and for future cash deposits of estimated antidumping duties, where applicable.

Cash Deposit Requirements

The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon publication in the Federal Register of the notice of final results of administrative review for all shipments of olives from Spain entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication as provided by section 751(a)(2) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for companies subject to this review will be equal to the company-specific weighted-average dumping margin established in the final results of the review; (2) for merchandise exported by a company not covered in this review but covered in a prior segment of the proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published in the completed segment for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original investigation but the producer is, the cash deposit rate will be the rate established in the completed segment for the most recent period for the producer of the merchandise; (4) the cash deposit rate for all other producers or exporters will be the all-others rate established in the less-than-fair-value investigation for this proceeding, 19.98 percent. These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice.

Notification to Importers

This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties.

Notification to Interested Parties

We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.221.

Appendix

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary

II. Background

III. Scope of the Order

IV. Requests for Withdrawal of Administrative Review

V. Discussion of the Methodology

VI. Currency Conversion

VII. Recommendation