[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 195 (Monday, October 7, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52407-52408]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25647]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-834-802, A-835-802, A-844-802]


Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium 
from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

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

ACTION: Notice of Price Determination on Uranium from Kazakstan, 
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension 
agreement on uranium from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the 
Department of Commerce (the Department) calculated a price for uranium 
of $15.78/lb. On the basis of this price, the export quota for uranium 
pursuant to Section IV.A. of the Kazakstani agreement, as amended on 
March 27, 1995, is 700,000 lbs for the period October 1, 1996, through 
March 31, 1996. The export quota for uranium pursuant to Section IV.A. 
of the Uzbek agreement, as amended on October 13, 1995, is 940,000 lbs 
for the period October 13, 1996, through October 12, 1997. Exports 
pursuant to other provisions of these agreements are not affected by 
this price.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexander Braier or Yury Beyzarov, 
Office of Agreements Compliance, Import Administration, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street & 
Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3818 
or (202) 482-2243, respectively.

PRICE CALCULATION:

Background

    Section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension agreements on uranium 
from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan specifies that the 
Department will issue its observed market price on October 1, 1996, and 
use it to determine the quota applicable to exports from Kazakstan 
during the period October 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997 and from 
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan during the period of October 13, 1996, to 
October 12, 1997. Consistent with the February 22, 1993, letter of 
interpretation, the Department provided interested parties with the 
preliminary price determination on September 18, 1996.

Calculation Summary

    Section IV.C.1. of these agreements 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 U.S. Base Price for the months in which there were 
new contracts reported.
    The Department's 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 2.52 percent, which was derived from a rolling 
average of the annual GDP 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. The Department 
then calculated a simple average of the UPIS U.S. Base Price and the 
long-term price as 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 1992-1995. During this period, the spot 
market accounted for 73.74 percent of total purchases, and the long-
term market for 26.26 percent.
    As in previous determinations, the Department used the Energy 
Information Administration's (EIA) Uranium Industry Annual to determine 
the available average spot- and long-term volumes of U.S. utility 
purchases. We have updated the data to reflect the period 1992 through 
1995. The EIA has withheld certain contracting data from the public 
versions of the Uranium Industry Annual 1993, Uranium Industry Annual 
1994, and the Uranium Industry Annual 1995 because this data was 
business proprietary. The EIA, however, provided this data to the 
Department and the Department has used it to update its weighting 
calculation. Accordingly, it may only be released under Administrative 
Protective Order.

Calculation Announcement

    The Department determined, using the methodology and information 
described above, that the observed market price is $15.78. This 
reflects an average spot market price of $16.28, weighted at 73.74 
percent, and an average long-term contract price of $14.38, weighted at 
26.26 percent. The decrease in the observed market price from our 
preliminary determination reflects the correction of clerical errors, 
as discussed below, and our inclusion in the calculation of two 
contracts that were inadvertently omitted from our preliminary price 
calculation. Since this price is between $15.00/lb and $15.99/lb 
expressed in Appendix A of the

[[Page 52408]]

suspension agreement with Kazakstan, as amended, Kazakstan receives a 
quota of 700,000 lbs for the period October 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997. 
The suspension agreement with Uzbekistan, as amended, specifies that 
Uzbekistan shall have access to its Appendix A quota of 940,000 lbs for 
the period of October 13, 1996 to October 12, 1997, provided that the 
calculated price is at or above $12.00 per pound.

Comments

    Consistent with the February 22, 1993, letter of interpretation, 
the Department provided interested parties the preliminary price 
determination for this period on September 18, 1996. One interested 
party submitted comments.

UPIS Index Used

    Comment 1: The Ad Hoc Committee of Domestic Uranium Producers (the 
producers) request that the Department correct a minor data error in 
its spot price segment of the calculation. According to the producers, 
the Department apparently inadvertently used the UPIS Short-Term Price 
Indicator data rather than the UPIS Spot Price Indicator data, which is 
consistent with previous calculations.
    Department's Position: The Department agrees with the producers and 
has corrected the data error.

Long Term Contracts

    Comment 2: The producers indicated that the Department made a 
clerical error in its reporting of the volume of a long term contract 
(contract number 1) as the Department apparently had two different 
volumes listed for the same contract.
    Department's Position: The Department agrees with the producers and 
has corrected the error in question.
    After the analysis of the above comments, the Department has 
determined that the observed market price for uranium is $15.78/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 March 5, 
1997.

    Dated: October 2, 1996.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group 
III.
[FR Doc. 96-25647 Filed 10-4-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P