[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 231 (Friday, November 29, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60682-60683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30479]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-570-845]


Notice of Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value: Brake Drums From the People's Republic of China

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

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 29, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian C. Smith or Dennis McClure, 
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department 
of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, 
D.C. 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1766 or (202) 482-3530, respectively.

The Applicable Statute

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are 
references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective 
date of the amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (the Act) by the 
Uruguay Rounds Agreements Act.

Amendment to the Brake Drums Preliminary Determination

    We are amending the preliminary determination of sales at less than 
fair value for brake drums \1\ from the People's Republic of China (the 
PRC) to reflect the correction of ministerial errors made in the margin 
calculations in that determination. We are publishing this amendment to 
the preliminary determination, consistent with Departmental policy as 
reflected in the proposed regulations. 19 CFR Parts 351, 353, and 355, 
Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Proposed Rule, 61 FR 7308, 
7373, (February 27, 1996), at 19 CFR Sec. 351.224.
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    \1\ No amendments have been made to the margins in the companion 
investigation of Brake Rotors from the PRC.
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Case History and Amendment of the Brake Drums Preliminary Determination

    On October 3, 1996, the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
preliminarily determined, in separate investigations pursuant to 
section 733 of the Act, that brake drums and brake rotors from the PRC 
are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than 
fair value (61 FR 53190 (October 10, 1996)). On October 18, 1996, 
certain respondents \2\ alleged that the Department made ministerial 
errors in the brake drums and brake rotors preliminary determinations.
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    \2\ China National Automotive Industry Import & Export 
Corporation, Shandong Laizhou CAPCO Industry Corporation, and CAPCO 
International USA, Yantai Import & Export Corporation (Yantai), 
Qingdao Metal & Machinery Import & Export Corporation (Qingdao), 
Beijing Xinchangyuan Automobile Fittings Corporation, 
Ltd.(Xinchangyuan), China National Machinery Import & Export 
Corporation (CMC), China National Machinery and Equipment Import & 
Export(Xinjiang) Corporation, Ltd., Hebei Metals and Machinery 
Import & Export Corporation, Longjing Walking Tractor Works Foreign 
Trade Import & Export Corporation, Shanxi Machinery and Equipment 
Import & Export Corporation, China North Industries Dalian 
Corporation (Dalian Norinco) and China North Industries Guangzhou 
Corporation.
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    The Department's proposed regulations provide that the Department 
will correct any significant ministerial error by amending the 
preliminary determination. A significant ministerial error is an error 
the correction of which, either singly or in combination with other 
errors:
    (1) Would result in a change of at least five absolute percentage 
points in, but not less than 25 percent of, the weighted-average 
dumping margin or the countervailable subsidy rate (whichever is 
applicable) calculated in the original (erroneous) preliminary 
determination; or
    (2) Would result in a difference between a weighted-average dumping 
margin or countervailable subsidy rate (whichever is applicable) of 
zero (or de minimis) and a weighted-average dumping margin or 
countervailable subsidy rate of greater than de minimis, or vice versa. 
Proposed 19 CFR 351.224(g), 61 FR at 7374.
    The respondents made three clerical error allegations, which are 
addressed individually below. See also November 4, 1996, Memorandum to 
Barbara Stafford. The petitioners did not make any clerical error 
allegations.

Valuation of Steel Sheet

    The respondents assert that the Department inadvertently selected a 
surrogate price for steel plate to value steel sheet used by the 
following three factories: (1) Longkou Botai Machinery Co., Ltd.; (2) 
Changzhi Automotive Parts Factory; and (3) Xingchangyuan.
    We agree with the respondents that our selection of the price used 
to value steel sheet constitutes a ministerial error. In our 
supplemental questionnaires, we requested each respondent to describe 
further its factor inputs, including what they initially reported as 
steel plate. In the respondent's supplemental responses, three 
factories reported the use of steel with dimensions corresponding to 
steel sheet. Therefore, we are using the surrogate value for steel 
sheet shown on page 20 of the October 3, 1996, General Issues and 
Factors Valuation Memorandum for the Preliminary Determinations, to 
value the material originally reported by these three factories as 
steel plate.

Tax Treatment of Scrap Value

    The respondents argue that the Department erred in using domestic 
prices for steel scrap and iron scrap that included taxes when tax-
exclusive import prices were available. The respondents further assert 
that if the Department did intend to use domestic scrap prices, the 
Department should have deducted the tax amount from domestic prices 
just as it did for pig iron.
    We agree with the respondents that the domestic prices of iron 
scrap and steel scrap should be exclusive of taxes. Therefore, based on 
information on the record, we have recalculated the surrogate values 
for iron scrap and steel scrap to be exclusive of taxes.

Denial of Separate Rate

    In the companion brake rotors investigation, Dalian Norinco asserts 
that the Washington Post articles, upon which the Department relied in 
its decision to deny a separate rate to Dalian Norinco, do not refer to 
Dalian Norinco. It argues that these articles refer to the national 
corporation, NORINCO, which is located in Dalian, not Dalian Norinco. 
Therefore, Dalian argues that the Department based its decision on a 
factual misreading of Dalian Norinco's response, which constitutes a 
ministerial error.
    We disagree with the respondent that not granting Dalian Norinco a 
separate rate in the preliminary determination was a ministerial error. 
In our October 3, 1996, concurrence memorandum, we stated that we had 
concerns regarding de facto government control of Dalian Norinco. We 
did not base our decision solely on articles appearing in the

[[Page 60683]]

Washington Post. Our decision not to grant a separate rate to Dalian 
Norinco was also based on other information on the record which did not 
establish that Dalian Norinco was separate from the national 
corporation, NORINCO.
    We do not find this issue to be ministerial in nature. However, we 
will examine this issue further for the final determination.

Conclusion

    Our analysis of the clerical allegations included an analysis of 
the calculations for all the selected respondents and the respondents 
not selected.
    For brake drum respondents Yantai, Xinchangyuan, and Qingdao, we 
are correcting the clerical errors mentioned above at this time, 
because we have found them to be significant. Based upon the revised 
margins for Yantai, Xinchangyuan, and Qingdao, we will also amend the 
weighted-average dumping margin used for the respondents not 
selected.3 We will not amend the preliminary margin for the 
selected respondent CMC, because the change in the margin calculated 
for CMC would be less than five absolute percentage points; 
furthermore, CMC's margin will not change from not de minimis to de 
minimis, since it is already de minimis. See proposed regulation 
351.224(g)(2). The China-Wide Rate used in the brake drums 
investigation remains unchanged.
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    \3\ Given that we did not have the administrative resources to 
analyze the responses of all participating exporters, we determined 
that our investigations would be limited to the analysis of the 
sales of the seven largest PRC brake rotor exporters and the five 
largest brake drum exporters to the United States. For the 
responding firms that were not selected, we have assigned a 
weighted-average dumping margin based on the calculated margins 
which were not de minimis.
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    In the companion investigation of Brake Rotors from the PRC, we are 
not making any corrections at this time, because the correction of the 
two ministerial errors described above would result in a change of less 
than five absolute percentage points for all the selected respondents 
except Southwest Technical Import & Export Corporation, and Yangtze 
Machinery Corporation (Southwest). However, the change in margin for 
Southwest would be less than 25 percent of the weighted-average dumping 
margin calculated in the original brake rotors preliminary 
determination for that firm, and thus does not meet our criteria for a 
significant ministerial error.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation, and Termination of 
Suspension of Liquidation, in Part

    The weighted-average dumping margins have changed for the following 
companies in the brake drums investigation. For the exporter Beijing 
Xinchangyuan Automobile Fittings Corporation, Ltd., the amended 
preliminary weighted-average margin is de minimis. Accordingly, we are 
directing Customs to terminate the suspension of liquidation for 
shipments of brake drums entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after October 10, 1996, and to release any bond or 
other security, and refund any cash deposit, posted for entries of 
subject merchandise produced and exported by Beijing Xinchangyuan 
Automobile Fittings Corporation, Ltd. For the remaining exporters, in 
accordance with section 733(d) of the Act, the Department will direct 
the Customs Service to continue to require a cash deposit or posting of 
a bond equal to the estimated dumping margins by which the normal value 
exceeds the U.S. price, as shown below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Weighted-average
            Manufacturer/producer/exporter             margin percentage
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Yantai Import & Export Corporation...................               6.88
Qingdao Metal & Machinery Import & Export Corporation               2.36
Beijing Xinchangyuan Automobile Fittings Corporation,                   
 Ltd.................................................  1.33 (de minimis)
Respondents Not Selected:                                               
  China National Automotive Industry Import & Export                    
   Corporation, Shandong Laizhou CAPCO Industry                         
   Corporation, and CAPCO International USA..........               4.62
  Shandong Jiuyang Enterprise Corporation............               4.62
  Hebei Metals and Machinery Import & Export                            
   Corporation.......................................               4.62
  Longjing Walking Tractor Works Foreign Trade Import                   
   & Export Corporation..............................               4.62
  Shanxi Machinery and Equipment Import & Export                        
   Corporation.......................................               4.62
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    This amended preliminary determination is published pursuant to 
section 733(f) of the Act.

    Dated: November 21, 1996.
Barbara R. Stafford,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-30479 Filed 11-27-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P