[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 230 (Friday, November 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65785-65787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25891]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-508-813]
Magnesium From Israel: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty
Determination
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that
countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters
of magnesium from Israel. For information on the estimated subsidy
rates, see the ``Final Determination'' section of this notice.
DATES: Applicable November 29, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ethan Talbott or Dana Mermelstein, 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) 482-1030 or (202) 482-
1391, respectively.
Background
Commerce published the Preliminary Determination on May 8, 2019.\1\
A summary of the events that occurred since Commerce published the
Preliminary Determination, 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.\2\ The Issues and Decision Memorandum
is a public document and is on file electronically 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, and is available to all parties in the Central
Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building.
In addition, a complete version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum
can be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The
signed and the electronic versions of the Issues and Decision
Memorandum are identical in content.
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\1\ See Magnesium from Israel: Preliminary Affirmative
Countervailing Duty Determination, and Alignment of Final
Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination 84 FR 20092
(May 8, 2019) (Preliminary Determination) and accompanying
Preliminary Decision Memorandum (PDM).
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the
Final Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation of
Magnesium from Israel,'' dated concurrently with, and hereby adopted
by, this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
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Period of Investigation
The period of investigation is January 1, 2017 through December 31,
2017.
Scope of the Investigation
In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations,\3\ the
Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope of the investigation).
No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it
appeared in the Initiation Notice.\4\ Therefore, Commerce is not
modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice.
See the scope in Appendix I to this notice.
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\3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule,
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997) (Preamble).
\4\ See Magnesium from Israel: Initiation of Countervailing Duty
Investigation 83 FR 58529 (November 20, 2018) (Initiation Notice).
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Analysis of Subsidy Programs and Comments Received
The subsidy programs under investigation and the issues raised in
the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in this investigation are
discussed in the
[[Page 65786]]
Issues and Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues raised by parties,
and to which we responded in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, is
attached to this notice at Appendix II.
Verification
As provided in section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended
(the Act), in August 2019, Commerce verified the subsidy information
reported by the Government of Israel and by Dead Sea Magnesium, Ltd.
(DSM). We used standard verification procedures, including an
examination of relevant accounting and production records, and original
source documents provided by the GOI and by DSM.
Changes Since the Preliminary Determination
Based on our analysis of our findings at verification and the
comments received, we have made certain changes to the respondent's
subsidy rate calculations. For discussion of these changes, see the
Issues and Decision Memorandum.
All-Others Rate
In accordance with section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, for
companies not individually examined, we apply an all-others rate, which
is normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the mandatory
respondents by those companies' exports of the subject merchandise to
the United States. Under section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act, the all-
others rate should exclude zero and de minimis rates or any rates based
entirely on facts otherwise available pursuant to section 776 of the
Act.
Commerce calculated an individual estimated countervailable subsidy
rate for Dead Sea Magnesium, Ltd. (DSM) and its cross-owned affiliates
ICL Chemicals Ltd., ICL Israel Ltd., Dead Sea Works Ltd., Dead Sea
Bromine Company Ltd., Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd., Bromine Compounds Ltd.,
and Fertilizers& Chemicals Ltd. Because the only individually
calculated rate is not zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts
otherwise available, we are assigning the rate calculated for DSM to
all other producers and exporters.
Final Determination
We determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net subsidy
Company rate
(percent)
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Dead Sea Magnesium, Ltd \5\............................. 13.77
All Others.............................................. 13.77
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Disclosure
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\5\ This rate applies to DSM and its cross-owned affiliates: ICL
Chemicals Ltd., ICL Israel Ltd., Dead Sea Works Ltd., Dead Sea
Bromine Company Ltd., Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd., Bromine Compounds
Ltd., and Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.
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We intend to disclose the calculations performed to parties in this
proceeding within five days after public announcement of the final
determination or, if there is no public announcement, within five days
of the date of publication of the notice of final determination in the
Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).
Suspension of Liquidation
As a result of our Preliminary Determination and pursuant to
section 703(d) of the Act, we instructed U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all magnesium from Israel
that was entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or
after May 8, 2019, the date of the publication of the Preliminary
Determination in the Federal Register. In accordance with section
703(d) of the Act, we instructed CBP to discontinue the suspension of
liquidation for CVD purposes for subject merchandise entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, on or after September 5, 2019. If the U.S.
International Trade Commission (ITC) issues a final affirmative injury
determination, we will issue a CVD order and will reinstate the
suspension of liquidation under section 706(a) of the Act and will
require a cash deposit of estimated CVDs for such entries of subject
merchandise in the amounts indicated above. If the ITC determines that
material injury, or threat of material injury, does not exist, this
proceeding will be terminated and all estimated duties deposited or
securities posted as a result of the suspension of liquidation will be
refunded or canceled.
International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the
ITC of our final affirmative CVD determination. Because the final
determination in this proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with
section 735(b)(2) of the Act, the ITC will make its final determination
as to whether the domestic industry in the United States is materially
injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of imports of
subject merchandise from Israel no later than 45 days after our final
determination. If the ITC determines that such injury does not exist,
this proceeding will be terminated, and all securities posted will be
refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines that such injury does
exist, Commerce will issue a countervailing duty order directing CBP to
assess, upon further instruction by Commerce, countervailing duties on
all imports of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective date of the
suspension of liquidation.
Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Order
This notice will serve as a reminder to the parties subject to
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written
notification of return or destruction of APO materials or conversion to
judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with
the regulations and terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(c).
Dated: November 21, 2019.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation \1\
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\1\ In the Preliminary Determination, we inadvertently included
incorrect scope language. This appendix contains the correct scope
language.
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The products covered by this investigation are primary and
secondary pure and alloy magnesium metal, regardless of chemistry,
raw material source, form, shape, or size (including, without
limitation, magnesium cast into ingots, slabs, t-bars, rounds, sows,
billets, and other shapes, and magnesium ground, chipped, crushed,
or machined into raspings, granules, turnings, chips, powder,
briquettes, and any other shapes). Magnesium is a metal or alloy
containing at least 50 percent by actual weight the element
magnesium. Primary magnesium is produced by decomposing raw
materials into magnesium metal. Secondary magnesium is produced by
recycling magnesium-based scrap into magnesium metal. The magnesium
covered by this investigation also includes blends of primary
magnesium, scrap, and secondary magnesium.
The subject merchandise includes the following pure and alloy
magnesium metal products made from primary and/or secondary
magnesium: (1) Products that contain at least 99.95 percent
magnesium, by actual weight (generally referred to as ``ultra-pure''
or ``high purity'' magnesium); (2) products that contain less than
99.95 percent but not less than 99.8 percent magnesium, by actual
weight (generally referred to as ``pure'' magnesium); and (3)
chemical combinations
[[Page 65787]]
of magnesium and other material(s) in which the magnesium content is
50 percent or greater, but less than 99.8 percent, by actual weight,
whether or not conforming to an ``ASTM Specification for Magnesium
Alloy.''
The scope of this investigation excludes mixtures containing 90
percent or less magnesium in granular or powder form by actual
weight and one or more of certain non-magnesium granular materials
to make magnesium-based reagent mixtures, including lime, calcium
metal, calcium silicon, calcium carbide, calcium carbonate, carbon,
slag coagulants, fluorspar, nepheline syenite, feldspar, alumina
(A1203), calcium aluminate, soda ash, hydrocarbons, graphite, coke,
silicon, rare earth metals/mischmetal, cryolite, silica/fly ash,
magnesium oxide, periclase, ferroalloys, dolomite lime, and
colemanite.
The merchandise subject to this investigation is classifiable
under items 8104.11.0000, 8104.19.0000, and 8104.30.0000 of the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although
the HTSUS items are provided for convenience and customs purposes,
the written description of the merchandise under investigation is
dispositive.
Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Final Decision Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope Comments
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Subsidies Valuation
VI. Discount Rates
VII. Analysis of Programs
VIII. Discussion of the Issues
Comment 1: Whether the GOI's Contributions to the Remediation
Projects at the Dead Sea Constitute GOI Purchases of Services from
Dead Sea Works, Ltd.
Comment 2: Whether Commerce Should Find Specific Accelerated
Depreciation, Tax Consolidation, or Tax Deductions Related to
Listing Shares on a Stock Market Under the Encouragement of Industry
Law (EIL) 1969
Comment 3: Whether Commerce Should Calculate the Benefit from
EIL's Accelerated Depreciation Program as a Deferral of Taxes
Comment 4: Whether Commerce Should Attribute to Dead Sea
Magnesium Ltd. Subsidies Received by Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd.
Comment 5: Whether Income Tax Reduction Provided Under the
Encouragement of Capital Investment Law is Countervailable
Comment 6: Whether Dead Sea Works, Ltd. Received a Benefit from
the Provision of Groundwater for Less than Adequate Remuneration
Comment 7: Whether Commerce Correctly Applied a Tier 3 Benchmark
Analysis and Whether Commerce Should Account for Profit
IX. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2019-25891 Filed 11-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P