[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 35 (Friday, February 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10150-10151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03473]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-484-803]
Large Diameter Welded Pipe From Greece: Initiation of Antidumping
Duty Changed Circumstances Review
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is initiating a changed
circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty (AD) order on large
diameter welded pipe from Greece.
DATES: Applicable February 21, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brittany Bauer, 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) 482-3860.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On May 2, 2019, Commerce published the AD order on large diameter
welded pipe from Greece.\1\ On January 3, 2020, Corinth Pipeworks Pipe
Industry S.A. (Corinth), a Greek producer of large diameter welded
pipe, filed a CCR request, including as an attachment the CCR request
filed in the companion Indian cases by nine members of the domestic
industry, including the petitioners from the underlying investigations
(individually and as members of the American Line Pipe Producers
Association) and Welspun Global Trade LLC.\2\ In that CCR request, the
domestic industry requested that Commerce initiate CCRs to revoke, in
part, the AD and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on large diameter
welded pipe from India, with respect to certain large diameter welded
pipe products within four specific groups of grades, outside diameters,
and wall thicknesses.\3\ Corinth stated that, because the domestic
industry expressed no interest in these products from India, and
because the same groups of products are produced and exported from
Greece, the domestic industry's statement of no interest should also
apply to large diameter welded pipe from Greece.\4\ Corinth requests
that we change the scope of the AD order on large diameter pipe from
Greece by adding the exclusion language provided in the Attachment to
this notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece: Amended Final
Affirmative Antidumping Determination and Antidumping Duty Order, 84
FR 18769 (May 2, 2019) (Order).
\2\ See Corinth's Letter, ``Large Diameter Welded Pipe from
Greece: Request for Changed Circumstances Review and Revocation, In
Part,'' dated January 3, 2020 (Corinth CCR Request).
\3\ Id. at Exhibits 2 to 5. Exhibit 2 is the Petitioner's
Letter, ``Large Diameter Welded Pipe from India: Petitioners'
Request for Changed Circumstances Review and Partial Revocation,''
dated October 18, 2019 (Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request).
\4\ Id. at 5-8 and Exhibits 1 and 2 (citing Large Diameter
Welded Pipe from India: Initiation and Expedited Preliminary Results
of Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances
Reviews, 84 FR 69356 (December 18, 2019) (Indian Welded Pipe CCR).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scope of the Order
The merchandise covered by this order is welded carbon and alloy
steel line pipe (other than stainless steel pipe), more than 406.4 mm
(16 inches) in nominal outside diameter (large diameter welded line
pipe), regardless of wall thickness, length, surface finish, grade, end
finish, or stenciling. Large diameter welded pipe may be used to
transport oil, gas, slurry, steam, or other fluids, liquids, or gases.
Large diameter welded line pipe is used to transport oil, gas, or
natural gas liquids and is normally produced to the American Petroleum
Institute (API) specification 5L. Large diameter welded line pipe can
be produced to comparable foreign specifications, grades and/or
standards or to proprietary specifications, grades and/or standards, or
can be non-graded material. All line pipe meeting the physical
description set forth above, including any dual- or multiple-certified/
stenciled pipe with an API (or comparable) welded line pipe
certification/stencil, is covered by the scope of the order.
Subject merchandise also includes large diameter welded line pipe
that has been further processed in a third country, including but not
limited to coating, painting, notching, beveling, cutting, punching,
welding, or any other processing that would not otherwise remove the
merchandise from the scope of the order if performed in the country of
manufacture of the in-scope large diameter welded line pipe.
Excluded from the scope of the order is structural pipe, which is
produced only to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
standards A500, A252, or A53, or other relevant domestic
specifications, or comparable foreign specifications, grades and/or
standards or to proprietary specifications, grades and/or standards.
Also excluded is large diameter welded pipe produced only to
specifications of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for water
and sewage pipe.
The large diameter welded line pipe that is subject to this order
is currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS) under subheadings 7305.11.1030, 7305.11.1060,
7305.11.5000, 7305.12.1030, 7305.12.1060, 7305.12.5000, 7305.19.1030,
7305.19.1060, and 7305.19.5000. Merchandise currently classifiable
under subheadings 7305.31.4000, 7305.31.6090, 7305.39.1000 and
7305.39.5000 and that otherwise meets the above scope language is also
covered. While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and
customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this order is
dispositive.
Initiation of Changed Circumstances Review
Pursuant to section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended
(the Act), and 19 CFR 351.216(d), Commerce will conduct a CCR of an AD
or CVD order when it receives information which shows changed
circumstances sufficient to warrant such a review. Section 782(h)(2) of
the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(1)(i) provide that Commerce may revoke an
order (in whole or in part) if it determines that producers accounting
for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product
have no further interest in the order, in whole or in part. For the
reasons discussed below, we find that such sufficient information
exists to warrant initiation of a CCR.
The ten domestic producers who filed the request on the Indian
orders asserted that they account for ``substantially all'' \5\ of the
domestic production of large diameter welded pipe.\6\ Because there is
no record information that contradicts this claim, in accordance with
section 751(b) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.222(g)(1)(i), we find that the
ten domestic producers comprise
[[Page 10151]]
substantially all of the production of the domestic like product.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ In its administrative practice, Commerce has interpreted
``substantially all'' to mean at least 85 percent of the total
production of the domestic like product covered by the order. See,
e.g., Supercalendered Paper from Canada: Final Results of Changed
Circumstances Review and Revocation of Countervailing Duty Order, 83
FR 32268 (July 12, 2018).
\6\ See Corinth CCR Request at Exhibit 2; see also Indian Welded
Pipe CCR, 84 FR at 69357.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because this CCR request was filed less than 24 months after the
date of publication of notices of the final determinations in the
investigations, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.216(c), Commerce must determine
whether ``good cause'' exists to initiate this CCR. We find that the
ten domestic producers' affirmative statement of no interest with
respect to certain specific large diameter welded pipe products,
coupled with the circumstances described below, constitute good cause
for the initiation of this review.\7\ Specifically, the domestic
industry stated on the record of the Indian Welded Pipe CCR that it
does not currently produce the particular large diameter welded pipe
products subject to this CCR request.\8\ Furthermore, the domestic
producers also stated on the record of the Indian Welded Pipe CCR that
the investment needed for the industry to produce these products far
exceeds the potential benefit of such an investment, given that the
U.S. market for deep offshore projects, i.e., the primary market for
the large diameter welded pipe product groups at issue, is relatively
small.\9\ In addition, the domestic producers provided an explanation
on the record of the Indian Welded Pipe CCR indicating that the
commercial reality of welded pipe production has changed since the
Orders were put in place.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ See, e.g., Certain Cold-Rolled Steel Flat Products from
Japan: Initiation and Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances
Review, and Intent to Revoke Order in Part, 82 FR 821 (January 4,
2017) (finding that ``Petitioners' affirmative statement of no
interest in the order . . . constitutes good cause for the conduct
of this review.'').
\8\ See Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request.
\9\ See Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request.
\10\ See Petitioner's Indian LDWP CCR Request.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On February 5, 2020, we informed counsel to the domestic industry
of the CCR request and notified them of the timing for initiation of a
review.\11\ Counsel to the domestic industry stated that they did not
intend to file comments prior to the deadline for initiation.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ See Memorandum, ``Phone Call with the Petitioner's Counsel
in Large Diameter Welded Pipe from Greece,'' dated February 5, 2020.
\12\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Comment
We are inviting interested parties to file comments and new factual
information not later than 14 days after the date of publication of
this notice. Rebuttal comments and factual information may be filed not
later than seven days after the due date for affirmative comments.
Specifically, we are requesting that domestic interested parties who
expressed no interest regarding certain products in the AD and CVD
orders on large diameter welded pipe from India provide comments with
respect to those statements in the context of this case, and identify
any considerations that distinguish those factors from the AD order on
large diameter welded pipe from Greece. All submissions must be filed
electronically using Enforcement and Compliance's AD and CVD
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to
registered users at http://access.trade.gov, and to all parties in the
Central Records Unit, room B8024 of the main Commerce building. An
electronically filed document must be received successfully in its
entirety in ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date set forth
in this notice.
Commerce intends to publish in the Federal Register a notice of
preliminary results of the antidumping duty changed circumstances
review, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4) and 351.221(c)(3)(i),
which will set forth Commerce's preliminary factual and legal
conclusions. Commerce will issue its final results of the review in
accordance with the time limits set forth in 19 CFR 351.216(e).
Notification to Interested Parties
This notice is published in accordance with sections 751(b)(1) and
777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216 and 351.221(c)(3).
Dated: February 13, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Attachment
Proposed Revision to the Scope of the Order
Excluded from the scope of the antidumping duty order are large
diameter welded pipe products in the following combinations of grades,
outside diameters, and wall thicknesses:
Grade X60, X65, or X70, 18'' outside diameter, 0.688'' or
greater wall thickness;
Grade X60, X65, or X70, 20'' outside diameter, 0.688'' or
greater wall thickness;
Grade X60, X65, X70, or X80, 22'' outside diameter,
0.750'' or greater wall thickness; and
Grade X60, X65, or X70, 24'' outside diameter, 0.750'' or
greater wall thickness.
[FR Doc. 2020-03473 Filed 2-20-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P