[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