[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 66 (Thursday, April 6, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 17515]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8510]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-100-002]


Notice of Price Determination, Uranium from Kazakhstan, 
Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Import Administration, 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension 
agreements on uranium from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the 
Department calculated a price for uranium of $12.06/lb. On the basis of 
this price, the export quota for uranium pursuant to Section IV.A. of 
the Uzbek and Kyrgyz agreements is zero. The export quota for uranium 
pursuant to Section IV.A. of the Kazakhstani agreement, as amended on 
March 27, 1995, is 500,000 lbs. for the period April 1, through 
September 30, 1995. Exports pursuant to other provisions of the 
agreements are not affected by this price.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Maureen Price or Beth Chalecki, Office of Agreements Compliance, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street & Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; 
telephone: (202) 482-0159 or (202) 482-2312, respectively.

PRICE CALCULATION:

Background

    Section IV.C.1. of each agreement specifies that the Department of 
Commerce (DOC) will issue its observed market price on April 1, 1995, 
and use it to determine the quota applicable to exports from the 
various republics during the period April 1, 1995 to September 30, 
1995.

Calculation Summary

    Section IV.C.1. of each agreement specifies how the components of 
the market price are reached. In order to determine the spot market 
price, the Department utilized the monthly average of the Uranium Price 
Information System Spot Price Indicator (UPIS SPI) and the weekly 
average of the Uranium Exchange Spot Price (Ux Spot). In order to 
determine the long-term market price, the Department utilized the 
weighted average long-term price as determined by the Department on the 
basis of information provided by market participants and a simple 
average of the UPIS Base Price for the months in which there were new 
contracts reported.
    Our letters to market participants provided a contract summary 
sheet and directions requesting the submitter to report his/her best 
estimate of the future price of merchandise to be delivered in 
accordance with the contract delivery schedules (in U.S. dollars per 
pound U3O8 equivalent). Using the information reported in the 
proprietary summary sheets, the Department calculated the present value 
of the prices reported for any future deliveries assuming an annual 
inflation rate of 2.65 percent, which was derived from a rolling 
average of the annual GNP Implicit Price Deflator index from the past 
four years. The Department used the base quantities reported on the 
summary sheet for the purpose of weight-averaging the prices of the 
long-term contracts submitted by market participants. We then 
calculated a simple average of the UPIS Base Price and the longer-term 
price determined by the Department.

Weighting

    The Department used the average spot and long-term volumes of U.S. 
utility and domestic supplier purchases, as reported by the Energy 
Information Administration (EIA), to weight the spot and long-term 
components of the observed price. In this instance, we have used 
purchase data from the period 1989-1992, as in the previous 
determination. During this period, the spot market accounted for 31.39 
percent of total purchases, and the long-term market for 68.61 percent. 
We were not able to include data from the 1993 EIA Uranium Industry 
Annual because it has been withheld due to its proprietary nature.

Calculation Announcement

    The Department determined, using the methodology and information 
described above, that the observed market price is $12.06. This 
reflects an average spot market price of $9.57, weighted at 31.39 
percent, and an average long-term contract price of $13.19, weighted at 
68.61 percent. Since this price is below the $13.00/lb. minimum 
expressed in Appendix A of the Uzbek and Kyrgyz agreements, there will 
be no quota under Section IV.A. of the agreements available to these 
republics for the period April 1, 1995 to September 30, 1995. However, 
since this price is above the $12.00/lb. minimum expressed in Appendix 
A of the amended Kazakhstani agreement, Kazakhstan receives a quota of 
500,000 lbs. for the period April 1, 1995 to September 30, 1995.

Comments

    Consistent with the Department's letters of interpretation dated 
February 22, 1993, we provided interested parties our preliminary price 
determination on March 10, 1994. We received no comments.
    We have determined that the observed market price for uranium is 
$12.06/lb. The Department invites parties to provide pricing 
information for use in the next price determination. Any such 
information should be provided for the record and should be submitted 
to the Department by September 5, 1995.

    Dated: March 30, 1995.
Paul L. Joffe,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 95-8510 Filed 4-5-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M