[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