A-549-835 Investigation Public Document E&C/Office III: LRL/SB DATE: August 29, 2018 MEMORANDUM TO: Christian Marsh Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance FROM: James Maeder Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations performing the duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations SUBJECT: Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand I. SUMMARY The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that rubber bands from Thailand are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The estimated weighted-average dumping margins are shown in the “Preliminary Determination” section of the accompanying Federal Register notice. II. BACKGROUND On January 30, 2018, we received an antidumping duty (AD) petition covering imports of rubber bands from Thailand,1 filed in proper form on behalf of Alliance Rubber Company (the petitioner). We initiated this investigation on February 20, 2018.2 In the Initiation Notice, we stated that we intended to select respondents based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data for certain of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings listed in the scope of the investigation.3 Accordingly, on February 1 See the petitioner’s letter, “Petition for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Rubber Bands from Thailand, China and Sri Lanka,” dated January 30, 2018 (the Petition). 2 See Rubber Bands from the People’s Republic of China, Sri Lanka, and Thailand: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair- Value Investigations, 83 FR 8424 (February 27, 2018) (Initiation Notice). 3 Id., 83 FR at 8427. 28, 2018, we released the CBP entry data to all interested parties under an administrative protective order, and requested comments regarding the data and respondent selection.4 On March 7, 2018, we received comments regarding the respondent selection process on behalf of two U.S importers of the subject merchandise, Frank Winne & Son, Inc. (Winne) and Schermerhorn Brothers Company, (Schermerhorn) (collectively, Importers), and one Thai producer and exporter of the subject merchandise, Liang Hah Heng International Rubber Co., Ltd. (Liang Hah Heng).5 On March 15, 2018, we solicited comments on the CBP entry data for the AD investigation on rubber bands from Thailand and the countervailing duty investigations on rubber bands from China and Thailand.6 On March 20, 2018, the petitioner provided a list of additional rubber band exporters/producers from China and Thailand to assist in the respondent selection.7 No other interested party submitted respondent selection comments. On March 27, 2018, we limited the number of respondents selected for individual examination to the two largest publicly identifiable producers/exporters of the subject merchandise by value, Liang Hah Heng and U. Yong Industry Co., Ltd. (U. Yong),8 and issued the initial AD Questionnaire to each respondent.9 Also in the Initiation Notice, we notified parties of an opportunity to comment on the scope of the investigation, as well as the appropriate physical characteristics of rubber bands to be reported in response to the AD Questionnaire.10 On March 30, 2018, the petitioner submitted comments regarding the physical characteristics of the merchandise under consideration to be used for reporting purposes.11 On April 5, 2018, Liang Hah Heng filed rebuttal comments.12 Based on the comments received, we incorporated the physical characteristics proposed by the petitioner and Liang Hah Heng into the AD Questionnaire issued on April 12, 2018.13 We received a number of timely scope comments and scope rebuttal comments on the record of this 4 See memorandum to the file, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Antidumping Duty Investigation: U.S. Customs Data for Respondent Selection,” dated February 28, 2018 (Customs Data). 5 See Importers’ letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Comments on CBP Data and Respondent Selection,” dated March 7, 2018; and, Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand - Comments on Respondent Selection,” dated March 7, 2018. 6 See memorandum to the file, “Antidumping Duty (AD) Investigation on Rubber Bands from Thailand and Countervailing Duty (CVD) Investigations on Rubbers Bands from the People’s Republic of China (China) and Thailand: Comments on Customs Border and Protection (CBP) Entry Data,” dated March 15, 2018. 7 See the petitioner’s letter, “Petition for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Rubber Bands from Thailand and China -Additional Information for Respondent Selection,” dated March 20, 2018. 8 See Memorandum, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Respondent Selection,” dated March 27, 2018 (Respondent Selection Memorandum). 9 See our letters to Liang Hah Heng and U. Yong, “Request for Information: Antidumping Duty Investigation: Thailand: Rubber Bands,” each dated April 12, 2018 (AD Questionnaire). 10 See Initiation Notice, 83 FR at 8424-8425. 11 See the petitioner’s letter, “Petition for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Rubber Bands from Thailand and China - Comments on Product Characteristics for AD Questionnaires,” dated March 30, 2018. 12 See Liang Hah Heng letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand - CONNUM Product Characteristics Comments,” dated April 5, 2018. 13 See the AD Questionnaire issued to Liang Hah Heng and U. Yong on April 12, 2018 at pages B-8 through B-8 and pages C-7 through C-8. 2 investigation, as well as on the records of the companion investigations of rubber bands involving the People’s Republic of China (China).14 On March 22, 2018, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) preliminarily determined that there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the United States is threatened with material injured by reason of imports of rubber band imports from Thailand and China.15 Liang Hah Heng and U. Yong submitted timely responses to the AD Questionnaire (sections A through D) from May 10, 2018, through June 11, 2018.16 We issued supplemental questionnaires to each company and received timely responses to these supplemental questionnaires from May 18, 2018, through August 14, 2018.17 During the same time period, the 14 For further identification and discussion of these comments, see “Scope Comments”, section below; see also memorandum to the file, “Rubber Bands from the People’s Republic of China and Thailand: Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination,” dated concurrently with this preliminary determination (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum). 15 See Rubber Bands from China, Sri Lanka, and Thailand; Determinations,” 83 FR 12594 (March 22, 2018) (ITC Preliminary Determination). See also International Trade Commission Preliminary Report, “Rubber Bands from China, Sri Lanka, and Thailand,” Investigation Nos. 701-TA-598-600 and 731-TA-1408-1410 (Preliminary), ITC Publication 4700, March 2018. 16 See Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Section A Questionnaire Response,” dated May 10, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s AQR); and, Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Sections B, C, and D Questionnaire Response,” dated June 11, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s BQR, CQR, and DQR). See also U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Section A Questionnaire Response,” dated May 10, 2018 (U. Yong’s AQR); U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Sections B and C Questionnaire Response,” dated June 11, 2018 (U. Yong’s BQR and CQR); U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Section D Questionnaire Response,” dated June 11, 2018 (U. Yong’s DQR). 17 See Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Supplemental Section A Questionnaire Response.,” dated June 6, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s SAQR); Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Supplemental Section ABC Questionnaire Response,” dated June 27, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s 2nd SAQR); Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Second Supplemental Sections ABC Questionnaire Response,” dated July 10, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s 2nd SQR); Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Supplemental Section D Questionnaire Response,” dated July 10, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s SDQR); Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: 3rd Supplemental Questionnaire Response,” dated July 20, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s 3rd SQR); Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Second Supplemental Section D Questionnaire Response,” dated August 6, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s 2nd SDQR); and, Liang Hah Heng’s letter, “Antidumping Duty Investigation of Rubber Bands from Thailand: Third Supplemental Section D Questionnaire Response,” dated August 9, 2018 (Liang Hah Heng’s 3rd SDQR). See U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: First Supplemental Section A Questionnaire Response,” dated June 8, 2018 (U. Yong’s SAQR); U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Supplemental Section D Questionnaire Response,” dated July 10, 2018 (U. Yong’s SDQR); U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Second Supplemental Questionnaire for the Sections A, B and C Responses of U. Yong Industry Co., Ltd.,” dated August 1, 2018 (U. Yong’s 2nd SQR); U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Third Supplemental Questionnaire for Section C Response of U. Yong Industry Co., Ltd.,” dated August 1, 2018 (U. Yong’s 3rd SQR); U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Second Supplemental Questionnaire for the Section D Response of U. Yong Industry Co., Ltd.,” dated August 3, 2018 (U. Yong’s 2nd SDQR); and, U. Yong’s letter, “Rubber Bands from Thailand: Fourth Supplemental Questionnaire for the Sections A, B and C Responses of U.