[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 200 (Thursday, October 16, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53807-53808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-27472]


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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 $12.35/pound for the relevant period, as appropriate. On the basis 
of this price, the export quota for uranium pursuant to Section IV.B. 
of the Kazakstani agreement, as amended on March 27, 1995, is 500,000 
pounds for the period October 1, 1997, through March 31, 1998. This 
price will also be used, as appropriate, according to Section 2.A. of 
the Uzbek agreement, as amended. The quota for the next relevant period 
for Uzbekistan, October 13, 1997-October 12, 1998, will be announced 
separately due to the fact that this quota will now be based on a 
production-tied quota, in accordance with Section 3.A. of that 
agreement.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karla Whalen or Cindy Sonmez, Office 
of Antidumping Countervailing Duty Enforcement--Group III, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street & Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230; 
telephone: (202) 482-0408 or (202) 482-0961, 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 determined market price on October 1, 1997, 
and use it to determine the quota applicable to imports from Kazakstan 
during the period October 1, 1997, to March 31, 1998, and Uzbekistan 
during the period of October 13, 1997 to October 12, 1998. Consistent 
with the February 22, 1993, letter of interpretation, the Department 
provided interested parties with the preliminary price determination on 
September 17, 1997.

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 2.46 percent, which was derived 
from a rolling average of the annual GDP Implicit Price Deflator index 
from the past four years. The Department then calculated weight-
averaged annual prices according to the specified nominal delivery 
volumes for each year to arrive at the long-term contract price. The 
Department then calculated a simple average of the UPIS U.S. Base Price 
and the long-term

[[Page 53808]]

contract 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 1993-1996. During this period, the spot 
market accounted for 79.31 percent of total purchases, and the long-
term market for 20.69 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 1993 through 
1996. The EIA has withheld certain business proprietary contract data 
from the public versions of the Uranium Industry Annual 1993, Uranium 
Industry Annual 1994, Uranium Industry Annual 1995 and the Uranium 
Industry Annual 1996. The EIA, however, provided all business 
proprietary data to the Department and the Department has used it to 
update its weighting calculation.

Calculation Announcement

    The Department determined, using the methodology and information 
described above, that the observed market price is $12.35. This 
reflects an average spot market price of $11.51, weighted at 79.31 
percent, and an average long-term contract price of $15.54, weighted at 
20.69 percent. The increase in the observed market price from our 
preliminary determination reflects the addition of one contract, as 
discussed below, and revised calculation methodology. Since this price 
is between $12.00/pound and $13.99/pound as defined in Appendix A of 
the suspension agreement with Kazakstan, as amended, Kazakstan receives 
a quota of 1,000,000 pounds for the period October 1, 1997, to 
September 30, 1998. This price will also be used, as appropriate, 
according to Section 2.A. of the Uzbek agreement.

Comments

    Consistent with the February 22, 1993, letter of interpretation, 
the Department provided interested parties the preliminary price 
determination for this period on September 17, 1997. One interested 
party submitted comments.
    Comment 1: The Ad Hoc Committee of Domestic Uranium Producers (the 
Miners) requested that the Department include Uzbekistan in the price 
calculation.
    Department's Position: The Department agrees with the Miners and on 
September 29, 1997, placed the price calculation on the Uzbek record 
and served counsel. (See Memo to the File from Cindy Sonmez, September 
29, 1997.)
    Comment 2: The Miners indicated that the Department failed to 
include an additional U.S. Base Price Indicator month in its 
calculations of long-term price.
    Department's Position: The Department agrees with the Miners and 
has included the relevant month under the ``UPIS Indicators'' section. 
Further, in accordance with our practice, the Department simple-
averaged the relevant months, and this change has been reflected on the 
``Simple Average of UPIS and Contract Price.''
    Comment 3: The Miners requested the Department to collect more 
information on the reported prices of certain contracts to ascertain 
that the contract prices do not reflect unusual sale circumstances.
    Department's Position: The Department reviewed these contracts and 
removed one contract from its long-term price calculations as it was a 
duplicate. The Department also confirmed with the submitting party that 
the reported contract prices used in our price calculations are 
accurate.
    Comment 4: Petitioners request that the Department weight-average 
the price on multi-year contracts according to yearly delivery volumes.
    Department's Position: The Department agrees with petitioners and 
has adjusted our long-term contract price methodology accordingly. In 
order to arrive at the contract price, the Department derived weighted-
average price factors for each year of the contract period and added 
each individual factor. The Department calculated the weighted-average 
price factor by multiplying the deflated price for each contract year 
by the nominal volume of the contract year over the total nominal 
volume of the contract.

    Dated: October 6, 1997.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group 
III.
[FR Doc. 97-27472 Filed 10-15-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P