[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-2997]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: February 9, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-588-831]
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:
Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Japan
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 7, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffery B. Denning or Michael Ready,
Office of Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration,
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th
Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone:
(202) 482-4194 or (202) 482-2613, respectively.
PRELIMINARY DETERMINATION: We preliminarily determine that imports of
grain-oriented electrical steel from Japan 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 margins are shown in the ``Suspension of
Liquidation'' section of this notice.
Case History
Since the initiation of this investigation on September 15, 1993,
(58 FR 49017, September 21, 1993), the following events have occurred:
On October 20, 1993, the International Trade Commission (``ITC'')
issued an affirmative preliminary injury determination in this case
(see Investigation No. 731-TA-660).
In October 1993, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'')
requested and received comments, and rebuttal comments, from
petitioners and all interested parties (including the sole respondent
in the concurrent investigation involving Italian producers) on the
model matching hierarchy to be used in this investigation.
In October 1993, the Department contacted Nippon Steel Corporation
(``Nippon''), and Kawasaki Steel Corporation (``Kawasaki''), (producers
who accounted for at least 60 percent of the exports of the subject
merchandise to the United States during the period of investigation
(``POI'')), to communicate our intention to have officials from the
Department travel to their production facilities and headquarters for
the purpose of presenting the antidumping questionnaire, and answering
any questions regarding the ensuing investigation. Nippon and Kawasaki
declined to participate in that presentation.
On November 4, 1993, the Department published a revision of the
scope of this investigation to correct an error published in the notice
of initiation. See Revision of Scope of Investigations: Grain-Oriented
Electrical Steel from Japan, 58 FR 58838. The scope stated below
conforms to that revision.
On November 2, 1993, the Department transmitted the antidumping
duty questionnaires to Nippon and Kawasaki, and on November 12 and 15,
1993, Nippon and Kawasaki, respectively, advised the Department that
they would not be responding to the Department's questionnaire.
Scope of the Investigation
The product covered by this investigation is grain-oriented silicon
electrical steel, which is a flat-rolled alloy steel product containing
by weight at least 0.6 percent of silicon, not more than 0.08 percent
of carbon, not more than 1.0 percent of aluminum, and no other element
in an amount that would give the steel the characteristics of another
alloy steel, of a thickness of no more than 0.56 millimeters, in coils
of any width, or in straight lengths which are of a width measuring at
least 10 times the thickness, as currently classifiable in the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTS'') under item
subheadings 7225.10.0030, 7226.10.1030, 7226.10.5015 and 7226.10.5065.
Although the HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs
purposes, our written description of the scope of this proceeding is
dispositive.
The HTS subheadings listed above reflect a revision from those
identified in our Notice of Initiation, and in our published Revision
of Scope of Investigations (58 FR 58838, November 4, 1993). This
revision is due to the fact that the HTS has been amended so that there
are now specific subheadings for grain-oriented electrical steel. This
revision of identified HTS subheadings pertains to this investigation,
as well as the concurrent antidumping and countervailing duty
investigations of grain-oriented electrical steel from Italy (case nos.
A-475-811, C-473-812, respectively).
Period of Investigation
The period of investigation is March 1 through August 31, 1993.
Such or Similar Comparisons
We have determined that the merchandise covered by this
investigation constitutes a single category of such or similar
merchandise.
Fair Value Comparisons
To determine whether sales of grain-oriented electrical steel from
Japan to the United States were made at less than fair value, we
compared the United States price (``USP'') to the foreign market value
(``FMV''), as specified in the ``United States Price'' and ``Foreign
Market Value'' sections of this notice.
Because both Nippon and Kawasaki failed to respond to our
questionnaire, we based our determination on best information available
(``BIA''), pursuant to section 776(c) of the Act.
In determining what to use as BIA, the Department follows a two-
tiered methodology, whereby the Department normally assigns lower
margins to those respondents who cooperated in an investigation and
margins based on more adverse assumptions for those respondents who
refused to cooperate. A full description of the Department's BIA
methodology is included in Appendix II to the Final Determination of
Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate
from the United Kingdom (58 FR 37215, July 9, 1993). Because Nippon and
Kawasaki have refused to respond in any way to our antidumping
questionnaire, we have determined each to be a non-cooperative
respondent. As a result, we have based our preliminary determination on
the comparison in the petition between U.S. price and home market price
which yielded the highest antidumping margin. Petitioner's bases for
these prices are fully described in our notice of initiation of this
investigation (see, Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigations:
Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Italy and Japan, 58 FR 49017,
September 21, 1993). For this determination, we also made adjustments
to petitioner's calculations to account for Japanese consumption taxes.
(See Memorandum to Lou Apple, dated January 28, 1994.)
Currency Conversion
Petitioners made currency conversions based on the average of the
official exchange rates in effect during the month of the U.S. sale, as
certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 733(d)(1) of the Act, we are directing
the Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all entries of grain-
oriented electrical steel from Japan that are entered, or withdrawn
from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of
this notice 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Margin
Producer/manufacturer/exporter percentage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kawasaki Steel Corporation.................................. 31.08
Nippon Steel Corporation.................................... 31.08
All others.................................................. 31.08
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITC Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the
ITC of our determination. If our final determination is affirmative,
the ITC will determine whether these imports are materially injuring,
or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry before the later of
120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days
after our final determination.
Public Comment
Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a
written request to the Assistant Secretary for Import Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce, room B-099, within ten days of the
publication of this notice. Requests should contain: (1) The party's
name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants;
and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed.
In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38, case briefs or other written
comments in at least ten copies must be submitted to the Assistant
Secretary no later than March 2, 1994, and rebuttal briefs no later
than March 7, 1994. A hearing, if requested, will be held on March 9,
1994, at 10 am at the U.S. Department of Commerce in room 3708. Parties
should confirm by telephone the time, date, and place of the hearing 48
hours prior to the scheduled time. In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38(b),
oral presentations will be limited to issues raised in the briefs.
If this investigation proceeds normally, we will make our final
determination not later than 75 days after the date of this preliminary
determination.
This determination is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the
Act and 19 CFR 353.15(a)(4).
Dated: February 2, 1994.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 94-2997 Filed 2-8-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
