2014-30430. Certain Steel Nails From Taiwan: Negative Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of Final Determination

AGENCY:

Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Commerce (Department) preliminarily determines that certain steel nails from Taiwan are not being, or are not likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The period of investigation is April 1, 2013, through March 31, 2014. The estimated weighted-average dumping margins are shown in the “Preliminary Determination” section of this notice. In response to a request from Mid Continent Steel & Wire, Inc. (petitioner) we are postponing the final determination. The final determination will be issued 135 days after the publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register. We invite interested parties to comment on the preliminary determination.

DATES:

Effective Date: December 29, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Victoria Cho, Scott Hoefke or Robert James, AD/CVD Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: [phone] or [phone], respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Scope of the Investigation

The product covered by this investigation is certain steel nails from Taiwan. For a full description of the scope of the investigation, see Appendix I to this notice.^[1]

Scope Comments

Several interested parties (i.e., IKEA Supply AG and IKEA Distributions Services Inc. (collectively IKEA), Target Corporation, and The Home Depot) submitted comments to the Department on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice, and petitioner submitted rebuttal comments. For discussion of those comments and rebuttal comments, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.^[2]

Methodology

The Department conducted this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. There were two mandatory respondents, PT Enterprise Inc. (and its affiliated producer, Pro-Team Coil Nail Enterprise Inc.) and Quick Advance, Inc. (and its affiliated producer, Ko's Nails Inc.). Export prices have been calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Normal value (NV) has been calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act.

For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.^[3] The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made available to the public via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS).^[4] ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov,, and is available to all parties in the Department's Central Records Unit, located at room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be found at http://enforcement.trade.gov/​frn/​. The signed and the electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Preliminary Determination

The Department preliminarily determines that the following weighted-average dumping margins exist:

Exporter/manufacturer	Weighted-average dumping margin (percent)
PT Enterprise Inc.	0.00
Quick Advance, Inc.	0.00

Consistent with sections 733(d)(1)(A) of the Act, the Department has not calculated a weighted-average dumping margin for all other producers or exporters because it has not made an affirmative preliminary determination of sales at less than fair value.

Disclosure and Public Comment

We will disclose the calculations performed to parties in this proceeding within five days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than seven days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.^[5] Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) a statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of authorities.

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce. All documents must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically filed request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.^[6] Requests should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. If a request for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

Suspension of Liquidation

Because the Department has not made an affirmative preliminary determination of sales at less than fair value, we are not directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of any entries of certain steel nails from Taiwan.

Postponement of Final Determination

Pursuant to petitioner's request, we are postponing the final determination. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.^[7]

International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the ITC of our preliminary negative determination of sales at LTFV. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

Dated: December 17, 2014.

Ronald K. Lorentzen,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

The merchandise covered by this investigation is certain steel nails having a nominal shaft length not exceeding 12 inches.^[8] Certain steel nails include, but are not limited to, nails made from round wire and nails that are cut from flat-rolled steel. Certain steel nails may be of one piece construction or constructed of two or more pieces. Certain steel nails may be produced from any type of steel, and may have any type of surface finish, head type, shank, point type and shaft diameter. Finishes include, but are not limited to, coating in vinyl, zinc (galvanized, including but not limited to electroplating or hot dipping one or more times), phosphate, cement, and paint. Certain steel nails may have one or more surface finishes. Head styles include, but are not limited to, flat, projection, cupped, oval, brad, headless, double, countersunk, and sinker. Shank styles include, but are not limited to, smooth, barbed, screw threaded, ring shank and fluted. Screw-threaded nails subject to this proceeding are driven using direct force and not by turning the nail using a tool that engages with the head. Point styles include, but are not limited to, diamond, needle, chisel and blunt or no point. Certain steel nails may be sold in bulk, or they may be collated in any manner using any material. If packaged in combination with one or more non-subject articles, certain steel nails remain subject merchandise if the total number of nails of all types, in aggregate regardless of size, is equal to or greater than 25.

Excluded from the scope of this investigation are certain steel nails packaged in combination with one or more non-subject articles, if the total number of nails of all types, in aggregate regardless of size, is less than 25.

Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are steel nails that meet the specifications of Type I, Style 20 nails as identified in Tables 29 through 33 of ASTM Standard F1667 (2013 revision).

Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are nails suitable for use in powder-actuated hand tools, whether or not threaded, which are currently classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheadings 7317.00.20.00 and 7317.00.30.00.

Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are nails having a case hardness greater than or equal to 50 on the Rockwell Hardness C scale (HRC), a carbon content greater than or equal to 0.5 percent, a round head, a secondary reduced-diameter raised head section, a centered shank, and a smooth symmetrical point, suitable for use in gas-actuated hand tools.

Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are corrugated nails. A corrugated nail is made up of a small strip of corrugated steel with sharp points on one side.

Also excluded from the scope of this investigation are thumb tacks, which are currently classified under HTSUS 7317.00.10.00.

Certain steel nails subject to this investigation are currently classified under HTSUS subheadings 7317.00.55.02, 7317.00.55.03, 7317.00.55.05, 7317.00.55.07, 7317.00.55.08, 7317.00.55.11, 7317.00.55.18, 7317.00.55.19, 7317.00.55.20, 7317.00.55.30, 7317.00.55.40, 7317.00.55.50, 7317.00.55.60, 7317.00.55.70, 7317.00.55.80, 7317.00.55.90, 7317.00.65.30, 7317.00.65.60 and 7317.00.75.00. Certain steel nails subject to this investigation also may be classified under HTSUS subheading 8206.00.00.00.

While the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary

II. Background

III. Period of Investigation

IV. Postponement of Final Determination

V. Scope of the Investigation

VI. Scope Comments

VII. Affiliation and Collapsing

VIII. Middleman Dumping

IX. Discussion of Methodology

A. Fair Value Comparisons

B. Product Control Numbers

C. Determination of Comparison Method

D. Export Price

E. Normal Value

F. Date of Sale

G. Currency Conversion

X. U.S. International Trade Commission Notification

XI. Disclosure and Public Comment

XII. Verification

XIII. Conclusion

Footnotes

1.  See Certain Steel Nails From India, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Sultanate of Oman, Taiwan, the Republic of Turkey, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 79 FR 36019, 36025-26 (June 25, 2014) (Initiation Notice).

2.  See December 17, 2014 memorandum to Paul Piquado, “Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Certain Steel Nails fromTaiwan,” adopoted concurrently with this notice. A list of the topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum appears in Appendix II, below.

3.  Id.

4.  On November 24, 2014, Enforcement and Compliance changed the name of Enforcement and Compliance's AD and CVD Centralized Electronic Service System (“IA ACCESS”) to AD and CVD Centralized Electronic Service System (“ACCESS”). The Web site location was changed from http://iaaccess.trade.gov to http://access.trade.gov. The Final Rule changing the references to the Regulations can be found at 79 FR 69046 (November 20, 2014).

5.  See 19 CFR 351.309.

6.  See 19 CFR 351.310(c).

7.  See 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2) and (e).

8.  The shaft length of certain steel nails with flat heads or parallel shoulders under the head shall be measured from under the head or shoulder to the tip of the point. The shaft length of all other certain steel nails shall be measured overall.