Notice of Preliminary Critical Circumstances Determination: Honey From the People's Republic of China (PRC)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-570-838]

Notice of Preliminary Critical Circumstances Determination: Honey

From the People's Republic of China (PRC)

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Import Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 6, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karla Whalen or David J. Goldberger,

Office of Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration,

International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th

Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone

(202) 482-6309 and (202) 482-4136, respectively.

Applicable Statute and Regulations

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute and to the

Department's regulations are in reference to the provisions as they

existed on December 31, 1994.

Preliminary Critical Circumstances Determination

The Department of Commerce (the Department) published its

preliminary determination of sales at less-than-fair- value in this

investigation on March 20, 1995 (60 FR 14725). On April 27, 1995,

petitioners in this investigation alleged that critical circumstances

exist with respect to imports of honey from the PRC. In accordance with

19 CFR 353.16(b)(2)(ii), since this allegation was filed later than 20

days before the scheduled date of the preliminary determination, we

must issue our preliminary critical circumstances determination not

later than 30 days after the allegation was filed.

Section 733(e)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, provides

that the Department will determine that there is a reasonable basis to

believe or suspect that critical circumstances exist if:

(A) (i) There is a history of dumping in the United States or

elsewhere of the class or kind of merchandise which is the subject of

the investigation, or

(ii) The person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was

imported knew or should have known that the exporter was selling the

merchandise which is the subject of the investigation at less than its

fair value, and

(B) There have been massive imports of the class or kind of

merchandise which is the subject of the investigation over a relatively

short period.

Imputed Knowledge of Dumping

To determine whether the persons by whom or for whose account the

merchandise was imported knew, or should have known, that the exporter

was selling the merchandise which is the subject of the investigation

at less-than-fair-value, the Department's practice is to impute

knowledge of dumping when the estimated margins are of such a magnitude

that the importer should have reasonably known that dumping exists with

regard to the subject merchandise. Normally we consider estimated

margins of 25 percent or greater on sales to unrelated parties and

margins of 15 percent or greater on sales through related parties to be

sufficient to impute such knowledge. (See, e.g., Final Determination of

Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Silicon Metal from China (56 FR 18570,

April 23, 1991) and Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Extruded Rubber Thread from Malaysia (57 FR 38465, August 25,

1992). In this investigation, we found preliminary dumping margins

ranging between 127.52 and 157.16 percent. Accordingly, we find that

the importers either knew, or should have known, that the imports of

honey were being sold at less-than-fair-value.

Because we determine that importers of this merchandise knew, or

should have known, that the merchandise was being sold at less-than-

fair-value, we do not need to address the question of whether there is

a history of dumping of the subject merchandise.

Massive Imports

Under 19 CFR 353.16(f) and 353.16(g), we normally consider the

following to determine whether imports have been massive over a

relatively short period of time: 1) volume and value of the imports; 2)

seasonal trends; and 3) the share of domestic consumption accounted for

by the imports.

When examining volume and value data, the Department normally

compares the export volume for equal periods immediately preceding and

following the filing of the petition (the ``pre-filing period'' and the

``post-filing period''). Under 19 CFR 353.16(f)(2), unless the imports

in the post-filing period have increased by at least 15 percent over

the imports during the pre-filing period, we will not consider the

imports to have been ``massive.''

Because a determination of critical circumstances should be based

on [[Page 29825]] company-specific shipment information (See, e.g.,

Final Determination of Sales at Less-Than-Fair-Value: Certain Hot

Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products, Certain Cold Rolled Carbon Steel

Flat Products, and Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate from

Belgium, 58 FR 37083 (July 9, 1993)), we requested shipment information

from the four companies for which we calculated preliminary margins

(See, Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less-Than-Fair-Value: Honey

From the People's Republic of China (60 FR 14725, March 20, 1995)).

These four companies, (1) Kunshan Xinlong Foods, Ltd. (Xinlong); (2)

Jiangsu Native Produce Import and Export (Jiangsu); (3) Jiangxi Native

Produce Import and Export (Jiangxi); and (4) Zhejiang Native Produce &

Animal By-product Import and Export (Zhejiang), provided shipment

information for the period from January, 1993 through April 1995.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 353.16(g), in making a critical circumstances

determination, the Department normally considers the period beginning

on the first day of the month of the initiation and ending at least

three months later. The Department considers this period because it is

the period immediately prior to a preliminary determination in which

exporters of the subject merchandise could take advantage of the

knowledge of the dumping investigation to increase exports to the

United States without being subject to antidumping duties (see, e.g.,

Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value of Certain

Internal-Combustion, Industrial Forklift Trucks from Japan (53 FR

12552, April 15, 1988)). For purposes of this preliminary determination

of critical circumstances, we are using as our comparison period five

months prior to and five months subsequent to the filing of the

petition in this investigation. As the petition was filed in the first

half of October 1994, per Department practice, this month is considered

to be part of the ``post-petition'' period. Thus, the Department

analyzed the company specific shipment information for the pre-petition

period, May 1994 through September 1994, and the post-petition period,

October 1994 through February 1995.

The data we received indicates that Xinlong, Jiangxi, and

Zhejiang's shipment of honey to the U.S. decreased over the relevant

time period and the increase in Jiangsu's shipments exceeded 15

percent.

Other Factors

Our analysis pursuant to 19 CFR 353.16(f)(1)(ii) indicated that

seasonal trends were not a significant factor explaining the increase

in Jiangsu's shipments. We were unable to consider the share of U.S.

consumption represented by imports from Jiangsu, pursuant to

353.16(f)(1)(iii), because we have insufficient information with regard

to Jiangsu's specific market share of domestic consumption.

Jiangsu argues that the increase in its shipments during the post-

petition period was a result of the new Chinese export quota system

which became effective in April 1994. Specifically, Jiangsu claims that

it was forced to ship the remainder of its honey quota by year-end

1994, or it would forfeit the right to export its unused quota. As a

result of these circumstances, Jiangsu's shipments worldwide increased

in November and December 1994. Jiangsu argues that because its

shipments increased in the post-petition period for reasons other than

an intent to import large amounts prior to suspension of liquidation,

the Department should find that these do not constitute ``massive''

imports for purposes of critical circumstances. We believe the evidence

on the record is insufficient to support the legal and factual bases

for this argument, but may reconsider this argument based on

verification findings.

Conclusion

We find that critical circumstances do not exist for Xinglong,

Jiangxi, and Zhejiang because they did not have massive imports over a

relatively short period of time. For Jiangsu, we find that critical

circumstances do exist due to: (1) Imputed knowledge of dumping; and

(2) Massive imports as evidenced by a significant increase in shipments

between the pre- and post-petition comparison period. For the exporters

whose responses were not analyzed,1 we find that critical

circumstances do not exist for the following reason. Due to the large

number of responding companies in this case, the Department selected

only four exporting companies and their respective producers to analyze

in the investigation. The Department does not believe it is appropriate

to penalize respondents whose individual data have not been analyzed

due to the Department's own administrative constraints. Furthermore,

based on an aggregate analysis of the four respondents from which we

requested shipment data, we conclude that the increase in shipment data

for the pre- and post-petition comparison periods is not larger than 15

percent. For all PRC companies which did not respond to the

Department's questionnaire, we have made the determination, as BIA,

that ``massive'' imports exist, and we therefore find that critical

circumstances do exist for all PRC firms not otherwise named in this

notice.

\1\ Heilongjiang Native Produce and Animal By-product Import and

Export

Inner Mongolia Native Produce and Animal By-product

Chang Cheng Industrial Co. Ltd.

Shaanxi Native Produce Import and Export

Kunshan Foreign Trade Co.

China (TUHSU) Super Food Import and Export

Hubei Native Produce Import and Export

Tianjin Native Produce Import and Export

Chanting Native Produce Import and Export

Qinghai Cereals and Oils Import and Export

Shanghai Native Produce Import and Export

Guangxi Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export

Corporation

Sichuan Native Produce Import and Export

China (TUHSU) Flavors and Fragrances Import and Export

Shandong Cereals and Oils Import and Export

Ningbo Native Produce Import and Export

Anhui Cereals & Oils Import and Export

Jiangsu Sweet Foods, Ltd.

Hebei Native Produce Import and Export

Anhui Medicines and Health Produce Import and Export

Xian Native Produce and Animal By-product Import and Export

Liaoning Native Produce Import and Export

Liaoning Native Produce Import and Export

Anhui Native Produce Import and Export

Henan Native Produce Import and Export

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Final Critical Circumstances Determination

We will make a final determination and address any comments

concerning critical circumstances when we make our final determination

in this investigation by August 2, 1995.

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(e)(2) of the Act, we are directing

the Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all entries of honey from

Jiangsu Native Produce Import and Export of the PRC and all other PRC

companies not specifically named above that are entered, or withdrawn

from warehouse, for consumption on or after December 20, 1994 (i.e., 90

days prior to the date of publication of our preliminary determination

in the Federal Register). The Customs Service shall require a cash

deposit or posting of a bond equal to the estimated preliminary dumping

margins, as shown below. This suspension of liquidation will remain in

effect until further notice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Average

Producer/manufacturer/exporter margin

percentage

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jiangsu Native Produce Import and Export.................... 127.52

Kunshan Xinlong Food, Ltd................................... *146.37

[[Page 29826]]

Jiangxi Native Produce Import and Export.................... *131.86

Zhejiang Native Produce & Animal By-product Import and

Export..................................................... *131.86

All PRC..................................................... 157.16

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The asterisk indicates the rate for continuing the suspension of

liquidation for those exporters found preliminarily to have negative

critical circumstances.

ITC Notification

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the

ITC of our determination.

Public Comment

Since this preliminary critical circumstances determination is

being made after the due date for public comment on our preliminary

determination of sales at less than fair value in this case, we will

accept written comments on this preliminary determination of critical

circumstances until the date in which case briefs are to be filed.

This determination is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the

Act.

Dated: May 30, 1995.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-13822 Filed 6-5-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P