[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 4, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28166-28168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13964]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-201-601]
Fresh Cut Flowers From Mexico; Preliminary Results and Partial
Termination of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, and Intent to
Revoke Antidumping Duty Order in Part
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of preliminary results and partial termination of
antidumping duty administrative review, and intent to revoke
antidumping duty order in part.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an
administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain fresh-
cut flowers from Mexico, in response to a request by a respondent,
Rancho El Aguaje (Aguaje). Although we initiated reviews for two other
producers, Rancho El Toro (Toro) and Rancho Guacatay (Guacatay), we are
terminating these reviews because Toro and Guacatay timely withdrew
their requests for review. We preliminarily intend to revoke the
antidumping duty order with respect to Aguaje, based on our preliminary
determination that Aguaje has had a three-year period of sales at not
less than normal value (NV). This review covers one producer/exporter
and entries of the subject merchandise into the United States during
the period April 1, 1994 through March 31, 1995.
We have preliminarily determined that sales have not been made
below NV. Interested parties are invited to comment on these
preliminary results. Parties who submit comments are requested to
submit with each comment (1) a statement of the issue and (2) a brief
summary of the comment.
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 4, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rebecca Trainor or Maureen Flannery,
Office of Antidumping Compliance, Import Administration, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
4733.
Applicable Statutes and Regulations
Unless otherwise states, 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 (URAA). In addition, unless otherwise
indicated, all citations to the Department's regulations are to the
current regulations, as amended by the interim regulations published in
the Federal Register on May 11, 1995 (60 FR 25130).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On April 23, 1987, the Department published in the Federal Register
an antidumping duty order on certain fresh cut flowers from Mexico (52
FR 13491).
On April 27, 1995, Toro and Guacatay requested that the Department
conduct an administrative review in accordance with 19 CFR
353.22(a)(1). Toro and Guacatay also requested that the Department
revoke the antidumping duty order as it pertains to them upon
completion of the review. On April 28, 1995, Aguaje requested an
administrative review and revocation of the order as it pertains to it
upon completion of the review. We published a notice of initiation on
May 15, 1995 (60 FR 25885), covering Toro, Guacatay, and Aguaje, and
the period April 1, 1994 through March 31, 1995. On August 11, 1995,
Toro and Guacatay timely withdrew their requests for review. Because
there were no other requests for review for these two respondents from
any other interested party, the Department is now terminating this
review for Toro and Guacatay in accordance with section 353.22(a)(5) of
the Department's regulations. We shall instruct the Customs Service to
liquidate Toro's and Guacatay's entries of this period at the rates in
effect at the time of entry. Because they are previously reviewed
companies, the cash deposit rates will continue to be the company-
specific rates currently in effect.
The Department is conducting this review in accordance with section
751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).
Scope of the Review
The products covered by this review are certain fresh cut flowers,
defined as standard carnations, standard chrysanthemums, and pompon
chrysanthemums. During the period of review, such merchandise was
classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTSUS) items 0603.10.7010 (pompon chrysanthemums), 0603.10.7020
(standard chrysanthemums), and 0603.10.7030 (standard carnations). The
HTSUS item numbers are provided for convenience and Customs purposes
only. The written description remains dispoitive as to the scope of the
order.
This review covers sales of the subject merchandise entered into
the United States during the period April 1, 1994 through March 31,
1995.
Verification
From April 17 through April 19, 1996, the Department conducted
verification of the questionnaire responses submitted by Aguaje, as
provided in section 782(i) of the Act. We used standard verification
procedures, including onsite inspection of the manufacturer's
facilities, the examination of relevant accounting, sales, and other
financial records, and selection of original documentation containing
relevant information. Our verification results are outlined in the
public version of the verification report.
[[Page 28167]]
Intent to Revoke
Aguaje submitted a request, in accordance with 19 CFR 353.25(b),
that the Department revoke the order covering certain fresh cut flowers
from Mexico with respect to its sales of this merchandise.
In accordance with 19 CFR 353.25(b)(1), this request was
accompanied by a certification from Aguaje that it had not sold the
relevant class or kind of merchandise at less then NV for a three year
period including this review period, and would not be so in the future.
Aguaje also agreed to its immediate reinstatement in the relevant
antidumping order, as long as any firm is subject to that order, if the
Department concludes under 19 CFR 353.22(f) that, subsequent to
revocation, it sold the subject merchandise at less than NV.
In the two prior reviews of this order, we determined that Aguaje
sold the subject flowers from Mexico at not less than NV. The
Department conducted a verification of the ranch's response for this
period of review. In this review, we preliminarily determine that
Aguaje has sold flowers at not less than NV, which will satisfy the
three-year period of no sales at less than NV. Therefore, we intend to
revoke the order in part on certain fresh cut flowers from Mexico with
respect to Aguaje, if these preliminary findings are affirmed in our
final results.
United States Price
In calculating United States price, we used constructed export
price (CEP), in accordance with subsections 772(b), (c) and (d) of the
Act, because Aguaje's sales to the first unaffiliated purchaser
occurred after importation into the United States. As in the original
less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation and in all prior
administrative reviews, all United States prices were weight-averaged
on a monthly basis to account for perishability of the product. CEP was
based on the packed prices to the first unrelated purchaser in the
United States.
Where appropriate, we made deductions from CEP for Mexican and U.S.
inland freight, Mexican and U.S. brokerage and handling, and those
imputed credit and warranty expenses that were incurred in the United
States. We also deducted those selling expenses that related to
commercial activity in the United States, and added amounts for
revenues earned from box charges and delivery charges. Finally, we made
an adjustment for CEP profit in accordance with section 772(d)(3) of
the Act.
Normal Value
Because Aguaje had no sales of comparable merchandise in the home
market or to third countries, we based NV on constructed value (CV) as
defined in section 773(a) of the Act. CV consists of the cost of
materials and cultivation, general expenses, profit, and U.S. packing
costs. We made a circumstance-of-sale adjustment to CV for the
differences in direct selling expenses between CEP and CV.
Aguaje reported no profit figure to be added to CV because it had
no home market or third country sales of subject merchandise. As there
was no suitable information on the record from which to derive a home
market profit rate, we used facts otherwise available for Aguaje's
profit rate. There was no suitable publicly available information on
the record for Aguaje for any prior review period and no other
respondent in the current review. In addition, there is insufficient
information on the record to calculate Aguaje's profit for the same
general category of product as the subject merchandise. Therefore, we
used the weighted average publicly available profit rate for other
flower producers examined in the 1992-1993 review.
Aguaje's overall corporate G&A figure could not be verified because
Aguaje could not locate all of the G&A support documents at
verification. However, the company was generally cooperative. From the
information in the current review and publicly available information
from prior reviews, we identified three possible alternatives for G&A
in this case: (1) Aguaje's submitted G&A data; (2) Aguaje's publicly
available G&A data from a prior review period; and (3) publicly
available G&A data submitted by other Mexican flower producers for
prior review periods. We chose the alternative that resulted in the
highest G&A percentage. Therefore, we have calculated an amount for G&A
based on Aguaje's publicly available information from the most recently
verified review period as facts otherwise available. For each month, we
used the higher of this amount, or Aguaje's reported G&A costs. Our
calculation of profit and G&A is discussed further in the memo to the
file dated May 23, 1996, on file in Room B-099 of the Commerce
Department.
Use of Facts Otherwise Available
Section 776(b) of the Act authorizes the Department to use as facts
otherwise available information derived from the petition, the final
determination, a previous administrative review, or other information
place on the record. Because information from prior proceedings
constitutes secondary information, section 776(c) provides that the
Department shall, to the extent practicable, corroborate that secondary
information from independent sources reasonably at its disposal. The
Statement of Administrative Action (SAA) provides that ``corroborate''
means simply that the Department will satisfy itself that the secondary
information to be used has probative value.
In this case, we used the weighted-average publicly available
profit rates of different Mexican flower producers, from verified data
they reported for the 1992-1993 review period. We compared the separate
home market profit rates of these companies to each other, and found
them to be comparable. The profit rate we have applied to Aguaje is
reliable and relevant, and therefore has probative value, because it is
representative of the profits found to be earned by other Mexican
flower producers during a recent review period. The G&A percentage we
used also has probative value because it is the company's own verified
rate from a recent review period.
Preliminary Results of Review
As a result of our comparison of CEP and CV, we preliminarily
determine that the following weighted-average dumping margin exists:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Margin
Manufacturer/exporter (percent)
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Rancho El Aguaje........................................... 0.00
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Parties to the proceeding may request disclosure within 5 days of
the date of publication of this notice. Any interested party may
request a hearing within 10 days of publication. Any hearing, if
requested, will be held 44 days after the publication of this notice,
or the first workday thereafter. Interested parties may submit case
briefs within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice.
Rebuttal briefs, which must be limited to issues raised in the case
briefs, may be filed no later than 37 days after the date of
publication. Parties who submit comments are requested to submit with
their comments (1) a statement of the issue and (2) a brief summary of
the comment. The Department will publish a notice of final results of
this administrative review, which will include the results of its
analysis of issues raised in any such comments.
The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall
assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate
[[Page 28168]]
entries. Individual differences between CEP and NV may vary from the
percentage stated above. Upon completion of this review, the Department
will issue appraisement instructions directly to the Customs Service.
Furthermore, the following deposit rates will be effective upon
publication of the final results of this administrative review for all
shipments of certain fresh cut flowers from Mexico entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication
date, as provided for by section 751 (a)(2)(c) of the Act: (1) The cash
deposit rate for the reviewed company will be the rate established in
the final results of this review; (2) for merchandise exported by
manufacturers or exporters not covered in these reviews but covered in
the original LTFV investigation or previous review, the cash deposit
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 or a
previous review, or the original 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)
for all other producers and/or exporters of the merchandise, the cash
deposit rate shall be 18.20 percent, the rate established in the LTFV
investigation.
These deposit rates, when imposed, shall remain in effect until
publication of the final results of the next administrative review.
This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of
their responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 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 antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent
assessment of double antidumping duties.
This administrative review and notice are in accordance with
sections 751(a)(1) and 751(d)(1) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)) and 19
CFR 353.22 and 353.25.
Dated: May 23, 1996.
Paul L. Joffe,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-13964 Filed 6-3-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P-M
