[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 200 (Thursday, October 16, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53807-53808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-27472]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-834-802, A-835-802, A-844-802]
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium
From Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of price determination on Uranium from Kazakstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension
agreement on uranium from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the
Department of Commerce (the Department) calculated a price for uranium
of $12.35/pound for the relevant period, as appropriate. On the basis
of this price, the export quota for uranium pursuant to Section IV.B.
of the Kazakstani agreement, as amended on March 27, 1995, is 500,000
pounds for the period October 1, 1997, through March 31, 1998. This
price will also be used, as appropriate, according to Section 2.A. of
the Uzbek agreement, as amended. The quota for the next relevant period
for Uzbekistan, October 13, 1997-October 12, 1998, will be announced
separately due to the fact that this quota will now be based on a
production-tied quota, in accordance with Section 3.A. of that
agreement.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1997.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karla Whalen or Cindy Sonmez, Office
of Antidumping Countervailing Duty Enforcement--Group III, Import
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 14th Street & Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230;
telephone: (202) 482-0408 or (202) 482-0961, respectively.
Price Calculation
Background
Section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension agreements on uranium
from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan specifies that the
Department will issue its determined market price on October 1, 1997,
and use it to determine the quota applicable to imports from Kazakstan
during the period October 1, 1997, to March 31, 1998, and Uzbekistan
during the period of October 13, 1997 to October 12, 1998. Consistent
with the February 22, 1993, letter of interpretation, the Department
provided interested parties with the preliminary price determination on
September 17, 1997.
Calculation Summary
Section IV.C.1. of these agreements specifies how the components of
the market price are reached. In order to determine the spot market
price, the Department utilized the monthly average of the Uranium Price
Information System Spot Price Indicator (UPIS SPI) and the weekly
average of the Uranium Exchange Spot Price (Ux Spot). In order to
determine the long-term market price, the Department utilized the
weighted-average long-term price as determined by the Department on the
basis of information provided by market participants and a simple
average of the UPIS U.S. Base Price for the months in which there were
new contracts reported.
The Department's letters to market participants provided a contract
summary sheet and directions requesting the submitter to report his/her
best estimate of the future price of merchandise to be delivered in
accordance with the contract delivery schedules (in U.S. dollars per
pound U3O8 equivalent). Using the information
reported in the proprietary summary sheets, the Department calculated
the present value of the prices reported for any future deliveries
assuming an annual inflation rate of 2.46 percent, which was derived
from a rolling average of the annual GDP Implicit Price Deflator index
from the past four years. The Department then calculated weight-
averaged annual prices according to the specified nominal delivery
volumes for each year to arrive at the long-term contract price. The
Department then calculated a simple average of the UPIS U.S. Base Price
and the long-term
[[Page 53808]]
contract price as determined by the Department.
Weighting
The Department used the average spot and long-term volumes of U.S.
utility and domestic supplier purchases, as reported by the Energy
Information Administration (EIA), to weight the spot and long-term
components of the observed price. In this instance, we have used
purchase data from the period 1993-1996. During this period, the spot
market accounted for 79.31 percent of total purchases, and the long-
term market for 20.69 percent.
As in previous determinations, the Department used the Energy
Information Administration's (EIA) Uranium Industry Annual to determine
the available average spot-and long-term volumes of U.S. utility
purchases. We have updated the data to reflect the period 1993 through
1996. The EIA has withheld certain business proprietary contract data
from the public versions of the Uranium Industry Annual 1993, Uranium
Industry Annual 1994, Uranium Industry Annual 1995 and the Uranium
Industry Annual 1996. The EIA, however, provided all business
proprietary data to the Department and the Department has used it to
update its weighting calculation.
Calculation Announcement
The Department determined, using the methodology and information
described above, that the observed market price is $12.35. This
reflects an average spot market price of $11.51, weighted at 79.31
percent, and an average long-term contract price of $15.54, weighted at
20.69 percent. The increase in the observed market price from our
preliminary determination reflects the addition of one contract, as
discussed below, and revised calculation methodology. Since this price
is between $12.00/pound and $13.99/pound as defined in Appendix A of
the suspension agreement with Kazakstan, as amended, Kazakstan receives
a quota of 1,000,000 pounds for the period October 1, 1997, to
September 30, 1998. This price will also be used, as appropriate,
according to Section 2.A. of the Uzbek agreement.
Comments
Consistent with the February 22, 1993, letter of interpretation,
the Department provided interested parties the preliminary price
determination for this period on September 17, 1997. One interested
party submitted comments.
Comment 1: The Ad Hoc Committee of Domestic Uranium Producers (the
Miners) requested that the Department include Uzbekistan in the price
calculation.
Department's Position: The Department agrees with the Miners and on
September 29, 1997, placed the price calculation on the Uzbek record
and served counsel. (See Memo to the File from Cindy Sonmez, September
29, 1997.)
Comment 2: The Miners indicated that the Department failed to
include an additional U.S. Base Price Indicator month in its
calculations of long-term price.
Department's Position: The Department agrees with the Miners and
has included the relevant month under the ``UPIS Indicators'' section.
Further, in accordance with our practice, the Department simple-
averaged the relevant months, and this change has been reflected on the
``Simple Average of UPIS and Contract Price.''
Comment 3: The Miners requested the Department to collect more
information on the reported prices of certain contracts to ascertain
that the contract prices do not reflect unusual sale circumstances.
Department's Position: The Department reviewed these contracts and
removed one contract from its long-term price calculations as it was a
duplicate. The Department also confirmed with the submitting party that
the reported contract prices used in our price calculations are
accurate.
Comment 4: Petitioners request that the Department weight-average
the price on multi-year contracts according to yearly delivery volumes.
Department's Position: The Department agrees with petitioners and
has adjusted our long-term contract price methodology accordingly. In
order to arrive at the contract price, the Department derived weighted-
average price factors for each year of the contract period and added
each individual factor. The Department calculated the weighted-average
price factor by multiplying the deflated price for each contract year
by the nominal volume of the contract year over the total nominal
volume of the contract.
Dated: October 6, 1997.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group
III.
[FR Doc. 97-27472 Filed 10-15-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
