[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 75 (Tuesday, April 20, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19338-19339]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9879]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

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


Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium 
from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

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

ACTION: Notice of price determination on uranium from Kyrgyzstan and 
Uzbekistan.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section IV.C.1. of the agreements suspending the 
antidumping investigation on uranium from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as 
amended, (antidumping suspension agreement on uranium from Kyrgyzstan 
and Uzbekistan), the Department of Commerce (the Department) calculated 
a price for uranium of $10.05/pound of U3O8 for 
the relevant period, as appropriate. This price will be used, as 
appropriate, according to Section IV.A. of the Uzbek agreement.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Letitia Kress, 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) 
482-6412.

Price Calculation

Background

    Sections IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension agreements on 
uranium from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan prescribe that the Department 
issue its determined market price on April 1, 1999, and use it to 
determine the quota applicable to Uzbekistan during the period of 
October 13, 1998 to October 12, 1999. Consistent with the February 22, 
1993 letter of interpretation, the Department provided interested 
parties with the applicable preliminary price determination on March 
26, 1999. No interested party submited comments.

Calculation Summary

    Sections IV.C.1. of these agreements specify how the components of 
the market price are to be determined. 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 1.51 percent, which was derived 
from a rolling average of the annual Gross Domestic Product 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 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 the 
purchase data from the period 1994-1997 since the EIA information for 
1998 is not available. During this

[[Page 19339]]

period, the spot market accounted for 77.66 percent of total purchases, 
and the long-term market for 22.34 percent.
    As in previous determinations, the Department used the EIA's 
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 1994 through 1997. The EIA has withheld certain 
business proprietary contract data from the public versions of the 
Uranium Industry Annual 1994, Uranium Industry Annual 1995, Uranium 
Industry Annual 1996 and the Uranium Industry Annual 1997. 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 $10.05. This 
reflects an average spot market price of $9.58, weighted at 77.66 
percent, and an average long-term contract price of $11.72, weighted at 
22.34 percent. This price will be used, as appropriate, to determine 
quota availability for purposes of Section IV.A. of the Uzbek 
agreement.

    Dated: April 1, 1999.
Roland L. MacDonald,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Enforcement Group III.
[FR Doc. 99-9879 Filed 4-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P