[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 141 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37875-37876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-18138]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-570-840]


Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Manganese Metal From the 
People's Republic of China

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 24, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Boyland or Sue Strumbel, Office 
of Countervailing Investigations, Import Administration, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-4198 
and 482-1442, respectively.

Scope of Investigation

    The scope of this investigation, manganese metal, is fully 
described in the preliminary determination (see Notice of Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of 
Final Determination: Manganese Metal from the People's Republic of 
China 60 FR 3182, (June 14, 1995)).

Case History

    On June 6, 1995, the Department of Commerce (the Department) made 
its affirmative preliminary determination of sales at less than fair 
value in the above-cited investigation concerning subject merchandise 
from the People's Republic of China. On June 20, 1995, respondents in 
this investigation, China National Electronics Import & Export Hunan 
Company (CEIEC), China Hunan International Economic Development 
Corporation (HIED), China Metallurgical Import & Export Hunan Corp. 
(CMIECHN), and Minmetal Precious & Rare Minerals Import & Export Co. 
(Minmetal), alleged that the Department made two ministerial errors in 
the preliminary determinations and requested that the Department 
correct these ministerial errors accordingly.

Amendment of Preliminary Determination

    Since a preliminary determination only establishes estimated 
margins, which are subject to verification and which may change at the 
final determination, the Department does not routinely amend 
preliminary determinations. However, the Department has stated that it 
will amend a preliminary determination to correct significant 
ministerial errors (see Amendment to Preliminary Determination of Sales 
at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Welded Stainless Steel Pipes from 
Taiwan, 57 FR 33492 (July 29, 1992).)
    In the preliminary determination of this investigation, the 
calculation of HIED's foreign market value (FMV) double counted 
material input costs. Additionally, with respect to HIED and the other 
companies for which margins were calculated, the Department added 
freight to the input cost of manganese ore. (Note: the addition of 
freight was despite the fact that the Department determined that 
freight costs were already reflected in the input cost of manganese ore 
(see June 6, 1995 concurrence memorandum to the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary)).
    The Department considers the above-referenced errors to be 
ministerial errors pursuant to 19 CFR 353.28(d) (see June 29, 1995 
Clerical Error Memorandum to the Deputy Assistant Secretary). With 
respect to HIED's original margin at the preliminary determination, the 
correction of these errors results in a change which is (1) greater 
than 5 absolute percentage points, and is (2) greater than 25 percent 
of the margin at the preliminary determination. Accordingly, these 
errors are considered significant ministerial errors. The ministerial 
errors alleged by respondents that relate to all other companies are 
not significant and therefore will not be corrected in this amended 
preliminary notice.
    At the preliminary determination, HIED's margin was the highest 
calculated margin and was higher than the highest margin in the 
petition, as recalculated by the Department. Accordingly, HIED's margin 
was used as the PRC-wide rate. Because Minmetal's margin is now the 
highest calculated margin and is higher than the highest margin in the 
petition, as recalculated by the Department, Minmetal's margin is now 
the PRC-wide rate.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, the Department 
will direct the U.S. Customs Service to continue to require a cash 
deposit or posting of bond on all entries of subject merchandise from 
the People's Republic of China at the rates indicated below, that are 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. The 
suspension of liquidation will remain in effect until further notice. 
The revised company-specific rate for HIED and the PRC-wide rate, as 
well as those rates which have not changed are as follows:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Margin 
                Manufacturer/producer/exporter                   percent
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CEIEC.........................................................    132.22
CMIECHN/CNIECHN...............................................     82.44
HIED..........................................................     57.18
Minmetal......................................................    148.24
PRC-Wide Rate.................................................    148.24
------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of the amended preliminary determination. If our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine whether imports of 
the subject merchandise are materially injuring, or threaten material 

[[Page 37876]]
injury to, the U.S. industry, before the later of 120 days after the 
date of the original preliminary determination (June 6, 1995) or 45 
days after our final determination.
    This notice is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the Act and 
19 CFR 353.15(a)(4).

    Dated: July 17, 1995.
Susan G. Esserman,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 95-18138 Filed 7-21-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P