01-30605. Stainless Steel Plate in Coils From the Republic of Korea; Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY:

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice of final results of antidumping duty administrative review of stainless steel plate in coils from the Republic of Korea.

SUMMARY:

On June 7, 2001, the Department of Commerce (“the Department”) published in the Federal Register the preliminary results of its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from the Republic of Korea (66 FR 30699). This review covers imports of subject merchandise from Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (“POSCO”). The period of review (“POR”) is November 4, 1998 through April 30, 2000.

Based on our analysis of the comments received, we have made changes in the margin calculations. Therefore, the final results differ from the preliminary results of review. The final weighted-average dumping margin is listed below in the section entitled “Final Results of the Review.”

EFFECTIVE DATE:

December 11, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Brandon Farlander or Laurel LaCivita, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: [phone] or [phone], respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective date of the amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (“the Act”) by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department's regulations are to the regulations at 19 CFR part 351 (2001).

Background

On June 7, 2001, the Department published Stainless Steel Plate in Coils From the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 66 FR 30699 (June 7, 2001) (“Preliminary Determination”). We invited parties to comment on these preliminary results. The review covers imports of subject merchandise from POSCO. The period of review (“POR”) is November 4, 1998 through April 30, 2000. We received written comments on July 9, 2001 from petitioners (Allegheny Ludlum, AK Steel Corporation (formerly Armco, Inc.), J&L Specialty Steel, Inc., North American Stainless, Butler-Armco Independent Union, Zanesville Armco Independent Union, and the United Steelworkers of America, (AFL-CIO/CLC)) and POSCO. On July 23, 2001, we received rebuttal comments from petitioners and POSCO. We have now completed the administrative review in accordance with section 751 of the Act.

Scope of the Review

For purposes of this administrative review, the product covered by this order is certain stainless steel plate in coils. Stainless steel is an alloy steel containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other elements. The subject plate products are flat-rolled products, 254 mm or over in width and 4.75 mm or more in thickness, in coils, and annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise descaled. The subject plate may also be further processed (e.g., cold-rolled, polished, etc.) provided that it maintains the specified dimensions of plate following such processing. Excluded from the scope of this order is the following: (1) Plate not in coils, (2) plate that is not annealed or otherwise heat treated and pickled or otherwise descaled, (3) sheet and strip, and (4) flat bars. In addition, certain cold-rolled stainless steel plate in coils is also excluded from the scope of this order. The excluded cold-rolled stainless steel plate in coils is defined as that merchandise which meets the physical characteristics described above that has undergone a cold-reduction process that reduced the thickness of the steel by 25 percent or more, and has been annealed and pickled after this cold reduction process.

The merchandise subject to this order is currently classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) at subheadings: 7219.11.00.30, 7219.11.00.60, 7219.12.00.06, 7219.12.00.21, 7219.12.00.26, 7219.12.00.51, 7219.12.00.56, 7219.12.00.66, 7219.12.00.71, 7219.12.00.81, 7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60, 7219.90.00.80, 7220.11.00.00, 7220.90.00.10, 7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80. Although the HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs purposes, the written description of the scope of the orders is dispositive.

Analysis of Comments Received

All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to this administrative review are addressed in the “Issues and Decision Memorandum” (“Decision Memorandum”) from Joseph A. Spetrini, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Import Administration, to Bernard Carreau, Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated December 4, 2001, which is hereby adopted by this notice. A list of the issues which parties have raised and to which we have responded, all of which are in the Decision Memorandum, is attached to this notice as an Appendix. Parties can find a complete discussion of all issues raised in this review and the corresponding recommendations in this public memorandum which is on file in the Central Records Unit, Room B-099 of the main Department building. In addition, a complete version of the Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov/​frn/​frnhome.htm. The paper copy and electronic version of the Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

Based on our analysis of comments received, we have made changes in the margin calculations. The changes are listed below:

• We adjusted POSCO's reported costs to include an amortized portion of its deferred foreign exchange losses.
• We adjusted POSCO's reported foreign exchange ratio to include gains and losses associated with cash, A/P, “other” accounts, and loans payable in the numerator.
• We reversed our position on affiliated party inputs from the preliminary results and, for these final results, we are not making an adjustment to POSCO's costs for an affiliated party input.
• We revised POSCO's per-unit G&A expense to apply POSCO's G&A ratio to the sum of the revised cost of manufacturing plus packing.
• We calculated an adjustment for warranty expense and included it as an adjustment to U.S. price.
• We have recalculated home market credit for POSCO's U.S. dollar home market sales using POSAM's U.S. dollar interest rate instead of POSCO's Korean won interest rate.
• We have recalculated POSAM's indirect selling expenses to adjust the amount of interest expense applicable to U.S. sales of subject merchandise and to take into account an offset for imputed credit.

Final Results of Review

We determine that the following percentage margin exists for the period November 4, 1998 through April 30, 2000:

Stainless Steel Plate in Coils From Korea

Manufacturer/exporter/reseller	Margin (percent)
POSCO	1.19

The Department shall determine, and U.S. Customs Service shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. The Department will issue appraisement instructions directly to the U.S. Customs Service. For duty-assessment purposes, we will calculate importer-specific assessment rates by dividing the dumping margins calculated for each importer by the total entered value of sales for each importer during the period of review.

Cash Deposit Requirements

The following deposit requirements will be effective upon publication of the notice of the final results of this administrative review for all shipments of stainless steel plate in coils from the Republic of Korea entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication, as provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit rate for the reviewed company will be the rate listed above; (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies not listed above, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other manufacturers or exporters will continue to be the “all others” rate of 16.26 percent, which is the all others rate established in the LTFV investigation.

These deposit requirements shall remain in effect until publication of the final results of the next administrative review.

Notification of Interested Parties

This notice also serves as a final reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that reimbursement of the antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties.

This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to administrative protective orders (“APOs”) of their responsibility concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305, which continues to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the proceeding. Timely written notification of the return/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 violation which is subject to sanction.

We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 771(i) of the Act.

Dated: December 4, 2001.

Bernard Carreau,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix 1—Issues in Decision Memorandum

Comment 1: Costs for Certain Products that were Reported in a Distortive Manner

Comment 2: Reporting of Home Market Sales

Comment 3: Home Market Credit

Comment 4: Indirect Selling Expenses for POSAM

Comment 5: Unrecognized Bad Debt

Comment 6: Duty Drawback

Comment 7: Export Warranty Expenses

Comment 8: G&A Calculation

Comment 9: Valuation of Re-introduced Scrap

Comment 10: Cost for Affiliate-supplied Inputs

Comment 11: POSCO's L-grade Adjustment

Comment 12: Energy cost

Comment 13: Financial Expenses

Comment 14: Imputed Credit Expenses in the Calculation of Indirect Selling Expenses

Comment 15: Deferred foreign exchange losses