[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 116 (Friday, June 17, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-14849]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: June 17, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
(A-570-828)
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:
Silicomanganese From the People's Republic of China
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 17, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Alley or Mike Ready, Office of
Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
5288 or (202) 482-2613, respectively.
Preliminary Determination
We preliminarily determine that silicomanganese from the People's
Republic of China (PRC) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the
United States at less than fair value, as provided in section 733 of
the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The estimated margin is
shown in the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice.
Case History
Since the initiation of this investigation on December 2, 1993, (58
FR 64553, December 8, 1993), the following events have occurred:
On December 27, 1993, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)
notified us of its preliminary determination that there is a reasonable
indication that an industry in the United States is being materially
injured, or threatened with material injury, by reason of imports of
silicomanganese from the PRC that are alleged to be sold at less than
fair value.
On January 6, 1994, the Department of Commerce (the Department)
sent antidumping questionnaires to 18 producers and exporters that may
have sold silicomanganese to the United States during the period of
investigation (POI). Company names and addresses were either obtained
from the petition or from the Census Bureau's IM-115 data. In the
accompanying cover letter, the Department requested that companies
without U.S. sales during the POI advise the Department of this fact.
Also, on January 6, 1994, the Department sent a copy of the
antidumping questionnaire to the PRC's Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). In our transmittal letter, the
Department requested MOFTEC to 1) furnish the questionnaire to any
silicomanganese producers and exporters with U.S. sales during the POI
that were not on our list of 18 companies, and 2) provide a
comprehensive list of those additional companies that received the
questionnaire from MOFTEC. On April 12, 1994, the Department sent a
second letter to MOFTEC again requesting a list of all companies that
had received the questionnaire from MOFTEC.
MOFTEC did not respond to either letter, and most of the potential
respondents neither replied to our questionnaire nor notified us that
they had not made any sales to the United States during the POI. The
only two companies that did respond to our questionnaire, Jinzhou
Ferroalloy Works (Jinzhou), a PRC producer of silicomanganese, and
Bogay Investment, Ltd. (Bogay), a Hong Kong company that purchased
silicomanganese from Jinzhou and exported it directly to the United
States, reported one sale made four months prior to the POI. Although,
as noted above, the cover letter accompanying the questionnaire stated
that companies with no sales of the subject merchandise during the POI
need only notify us of this fact, Jinzhou and Bogay chose to respond to
the questionnaire. Bogay submitted its questionnaire responses on
February 14 and February 28, 1994, and Jinzhou submitted its
questionnaire responses on March 7 and March 23, 1994.
On March 2, 1994, the Department determined that this investigation
was extraordinarily complicated. Therefore, in accordance with section
733(c)(1)(B) of the Act, the Department postponed the preliminary
determination until June 10, 1994. (See Notice of Postponement of
Preliminary Antidumping Duty Determination: Silicomanganese from the
PRC and Ukraine, 59 FR 11250, March 10, 1994.)
On May 20, 1994, counsel for petitioners alleged the existence of
critical circumstances. The Department has investigated whether
critical circumstances exist, and our preliminary results are listed
below under ``Critical Circumstances.''
The Department determined on May 23, 1994, not to expand the POI to
include Jinzhou and Bogay in the investigation (see Memorandum from
Richard W. Moreland to Barbara R. Stafford, dated May 23, 1994).
Scope of Investigation
The merchandise covered by this investigation is silicomanganese.
Silicomanganese, which is sometimes called ferrosilicon manganese, is a
ferroalloy composed principally of manganese, silicon, and iron, and
normally containing much smaller proportions of minor elements, such as
carbon, phosphorous and sulfur. Silicomanganese generally contains by
weight not less than 4% iron, more than 30% manganese, more than 8%
silicon and not more than 3% phosphorous. All compositions, forms and
sizes of silicomanganese are included within the scope of these
investigations, including silicomanganese slag, fines and briquettes.
Silicomanganese is used primarily in steel production as a source of
both silicon and manganese. These investigations cover all
silicomanganese, regardless of its tariff classification. Most
silicomanganese is currently classifiable under subheading 7202.30.0000
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS). Some
silicomanganese may also be classifiable under HTS subheading
7202.99.5040. Although the HTS subheading is provided for convenience
and customs purposes, our written description of the scope is
dispositive.
Period of Investigation
The period of investigation is June 1, 1993, through November 30,
1993.
Best Information Available
U.S. Customs shipment data suggest that there were sales of subject
merchandise during the POI. Because MOFTEC and most of the potential
respondents failed to provide information concerning whether there were
such sales, the Department, in accordance with section 776(c) of the
Act, must base its preliminary determination on best information
available (BIA).
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 cooperate in an investigation and
margins based on more adverse assumptions for those respondents who do
not cooperate in an investigation. Since the potential respondents in
this case did not cooperate, we assigned a BIA margin based on the most
adverse assumptions.
In this case, BIA is the information contained in the petition, as
amended on November 24, 1993. (See Initiation of Antidumping Duty
Investigations: Silicomanganese from Brazil, the People's Republic of
China, Ukraine and Venezuela, 58 FR 64553, December 8, 1993.) The
amended petition provides only one margin, listed below, for all PRC
producers and exporters of silicomanganese.
Critical Circumstances
Petitioner alleges that critical circumstances exist with respect
to imports of silicomanganese from the PRC. Pursuant to section
733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 353.16, we analyzed the allegations
using the Department's standard methodology.
To find critical circumstances, the Department must determine
whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that 1) there
is a history of dumping in the United States or elsewhere of the same
class or kind of subject merchandise, or the importer knew or should
have known that the producer or reseller was selling the subject
merchandise at less than its foreign market value; and 2) there have
been massive imports of the subject merchandise over a relatively short
period.
We have not found a history of dumping of PRC silicomanganese in
the United States or elsewhere. According to Department practice,
however, we will impute knowledge of dumping to importers of subject
merchandise when the dumping margin exceeds 25 percent in purchase
price situations (see Preliminary Determination on Silicon Carbide from
the PRC, 58 FR 64549, December 8, 1993). In this case, the estimated
dumping margin for silicomanganese imports from the PRC is 150.00
percent.
We consider imports of merchandise under investigation to be
massive if there has been an increase of 15 percent or more over a
relatively short period of time. For the preliminary determination, we
were able to obtain import data through the month of March. To
determine whether there have been massive imports of silicomanganese
from the PRC, we compared the import volume for the month in which the
petition was filed, November, and the four months subsequent to that
month with the import volume for the five months prior to the filing of
the petition, using Department of Commerce shipment data. We found that
the import volume of silicomanganese during the period subsequent to
the filing of the petition was massive, increasing by 426.83 percent
over the previous period's import volume.
For the foregoing reasons, the Department preliminarily finds that
critical circumstances exist in this case.
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
silicomanganese from the PRC that are entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date 90 days before 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
amount shown below. These suspension of liquidation instructions will
remain in effect until further notice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted-
average
Manufacturer/producer/exporter margin
percentage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All exporters............................................... 150.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 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.
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 for Import Administration no later than July 13, 1994, and
rebuttal briefs no later than July 18, 1994. A public hearing, if
requested, will be held on July 20, 1994 at 2:00 p.m. at the U.S.
Department of Commerce, Room 1414, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20230. Parties should confirm by telephone the
time, date, and place of the hearing 48 hours before the scheduled
time. In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38(b), oral presentations will be
limited to issues raised in the briefs.
We will make our final determination not later than 75 days after
publication of this determination in the Federal Register.
This determination is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the
Act, and 19 CFR 353.15(a)(4).
Dated: June 10, 1994.
Susan G. Esserman,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 94-14849 Filed 6-16-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
