[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 10, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43344-43346]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20559]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-583-826]
Collated Roofing Nails From Taiwan: Preliminary Results of
Antidumping Administrative Review
AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of antidumping duty
administrative review.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce is conducting an administrative
review of the antidumping duty order on collated roofing nails from
Taiwan in response to a request by Dinsen Fastening System, Inc., a
producer/exporter of subject merchandise. This review covers the period
November 20, 1997, through October 31, 1998.
We have preliminarily determined that sales have not been made
below normal value. Interested parties are invited to comment on these
preliminary results. If these preliminary results are adopted in our
final results of administrative review, we will instruct the Customs
Service not to assess antidumping duties on entries subject to this
review.
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 10, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary J. Jenkins or Katherine Johnson,
Office 2, AD/CVD Enforcement Group I, Import Administration, Room 3099,
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th
Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20230; telephone
(202) 482-1756, or 482-4929, respectively.
Applicable Statute and Regulations
Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of
1930, as amended (``the Act''), are references to the provisions
effective January 1, 1995, the effective date of the amendments made to
the Act by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (``URAA''). In addition,
unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department of
Commerce's (``the Department's'') regulations are to the regulations at
19 CFR Part 351 (1998).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On November 19, 1997, the Department published in the Federal
Register the antidumping duty order on collated roofing nails from
Taiwan (62 FR 61729).
On November 12, 1998, we published in the Federal Register (63 FR
63287) a notice of opportunity to request an administrative review of
the antidumping duty order on collated roofing nails from Taiwan
covering the period November 20, 1997, through October 31, 1998.
In accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(b)(1), Dinsen Fastening System,
Inc. (``Dinsen'') requested that we conduct an administrative review of
its sales. We published a notice of initiation of this antidumping duty
administrative review on December 23, 1998 (63 FR 71091).
On January 14, 1999, the Department issued an antidumping duty
questionnaire to Dinsen. We also issued a supplemental questionnaire on
April 12, 1999. On March 8, March 15, and May 3, 1999, we received from
Dinsen responses to the original antidumping questionnaire and the
supplemental questionnaire. We conducted verification of Dinsen's
antidumping duty questionnaire responses from June 1, through June 4,
1999, and issued our report on July 6, 1999, (see Memorandum to the
File: Sales and Cost of Production Verification) (Verification Report).
On June 2, 1999, Dinsen provided the Department with changes to its
response as a result of errors found during the preparation for
verification. At the Department's request, on June 30, 1999, the
respondent provided revised sales and cost databases reflecting the
correction of certain errors found by Dinsen in preparing for
verification and also to account for certain errors found at
verification.
We made the following additional adjustments to Dinsen's June 30,
1999, reported databases based on verification findings:
1. We deleted threading cost for all control numbers except one,
based on the verification results. We also corrected an error in the
per-unit threading cost for the one control number based on the
verification results.
2. We adjusted the plastic sheet cost to account for a correction
in the cost of packing.
3. We corrected the product code and control number for a specific
transaction.
Scope of the Review
The product covered by this review is collated roofing nails made
of steel, having a length of \13/16\ inch to 1\13/16\ inches (or 20.64
to 46.04 millimeters), a head diameter of 0.330 inch to 0.415 inch (or
8.38 to 10.54 millimeters), and a shank diameter of 0.100 inch to 0.125
inch (or 2.54 to 3.18 millimeters), whether or not galvanized, that are
collated with two wires.
Collated roofing nails within the scope of this investigation are
classifiable under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(``HTSUS'') subheadings 7317.00.55.06. Although the HTSUS subheadings
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written
description of the scope of this review is dispositive.
Fair Value Comparisons
To determine whether sales of the subject merchandise sold by
Dinsen and exported to the United States were made at less than normal
value (``NV''), we compared export price (``EP'') to the NV, as
described in the ``Export Price'' and ``Normal Value'' sections of this
notice.
Pursuant to section 777A(d)(2) of the Act, we compared the EPs of
individual
[[Page 43345]]
U.S. transactions to the weighted-average NVs of the foreign like
product.
Consistent with our July 29, 1999, preliminary determination that
stainless steel collated roofing nails are not within the scope of the
antidumping duty order on collated roofing nails from Taiwan (see
Memorandum for Richard Moreland from Louis Apple regarding
``Preliminary Scope Ruling-Antidumping Duty Order on Collated Roofing
Nails from Taiwan Requested by the Stanley Bostitch Fastener Division
of Stanley Works, Inc.'' dated July 29, 1999), we have excluded all
U.S. sales of such merchandise from our preliminary margin analysis in
this review.
Export Price
We based United States price on EP, as defined in section 772(a) of
the Act, because the merchandise was sold directly by Dinsen to
unaffiliated U.S. purchasers prior to importation or sold to
unaffiliated purchasers in Taiwan for exportation to the United States,
and constructed export price was not otherwise indicated by the facts
of record.
We calculated EP based on packed, FOB Taiwan port or C&I (cost and
insurance) U.S. port prices to customers in the United States, or FOB
at Taiwan port for trading companies in Taiwan that purchase the
subject merchandise from Dinsen and export the subject merchandise to
its U.S. customers. We made deductions, where applicable, for inland
freight expenses, brokerage and handling expenses (inclusive of marine
insurance charges) and harbor maintenance fees, in accordance with
section 772(c) of the Act.
Home Market or Third Country Viability
In order to determine whether there was a sufficient volume of
sales in the home market or third country to serve as a viable basis
for calculating NV (i.e., the aggregate volume of home market or third
country sales of the foreign like product are equal to or greater than
five percent of the aggregate volume of U.S. sales), we compared the
respondent's volume of home market and third country sales of the
foreign like product to the volume of U.S. sales of the subject
merchandise, in accordance with sections 773(a)(1)(B) and (C) of the
Act. Because the respondent's aggregate volume of home market and third
country sales of the foreign like product was less than five percent of
its aggregate volume of U.S. sales of the subject merchandise, we
determined that its home and third country markets were not viable.
Therefore, we used constructed value (``CV'') as the basis for
calculating NV, in accordance with section 773(a)(4) of the Act.
Normal Value
After testing home market viability, we calculated NV as noted in
the ``Price-to-CV Comparisons'' section of this notice.
Calculation of CV
We calculated CV for the respondent in accordance with section
773(e)(1) of the Act, which indicates that CV shall be based on the sum
of the respondent's cost of materials and fabrication for the foreign
like product, plus amounts for selling, general, and administrative
expenses (SG&A), profit, and U.S. packing costs.
Because there are no viable comparison markets for the respondent
and, hence, no actual company-specific profit and selling expense data
available for the respondent, we calculated these items in accordance
with section 773(e)(2)(B)(iii) of the Act and the Statement of
Administrative Action (``SAA'') accompanying the URAA, H.R. Doc. No.
316, 103d Cong, 2d Sess (1994), at 841. Dinsen reported general and
administrative expenses in its questionnaire response.
Specifically, the SAA provides that where, due to the absence of
data, the Department cannot determine amounts for profit under
alternatives (i) or (ii) of section 773(e)(2)(B) of the Act or a
``profit cap'' under alternative (iii) of section 773(e)(2)(B) of the
Act, the Department may apply alternative (iii) on the basis of the
facts available. In this case, we are unable to determine an amount for
profit under alternatives (i) or (ii), or a ``profit cap'' under
alternative (iii) because the respondent does not have a viable home
market. See 19 CFR 351.405(b)(2) (clarifying that under section
773(e)(2)(B) of the Act, ``foreign country'' means the country in which
the merchandise is produced) (62 FR 27296, 27412-13 (May 19, 1997)).
The statute directs us to use an amount which reflects profit in
connection with sales for consumption in the foreign country of the
same general category of products as the subject merchandise. See
section 773(e)(2) of the Act. Because Dinsen did not have a viable home
market, the profit and selling expenses shown on its financial
statement do not reflect profit and selling expenses realized in the
home market. Therefore, we did not rely on the profit or selling
expense data in the respondent's financial statements in calculating
CV. Instead, we applied alternative (iii) and determined profit and
selling expense on the basis of the facts available consistent with the
SAA (see Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair
Value: Certain Preserved Mushrooms from Indonesia, 63 FR 72268, 72273,
(December 31, 1998)). As facts available, we calculated Dinsen's profit
and selling expenses for CV based on the weighted-average selling
expenses and profit contained in the 1998 financial statement of Chun
Yu Works & Company, Ltd. (``Chun Yu''), a Taiwan producer of fasteners,
lug nuts and steel bars. See Calculation Memorandum dated August 2,
1999.
Price-to-CV Comparisons
For price-to-CV comparisons, we did not make a circumstance-of-sale
adjustment, pursuant to section 773(a)(6)(C)(iii) of the Act, because
the Department was unable to distinguish between home market direct and
indirect selling expenses based on the 1998 financial statement of Chun
Yu.
Preliminary Results of the Review
As a result of our comparison of EP and NV, we preliminarily
determine that the following weighted-average dumping margin exists:
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Manufacturer/exporter Period Margin (percent)
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Dinsen Fastening System, Inc................ 11/20/97-10/31/98 0.02 (de minimis).
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Parties to the proceeding may request disclosure within five days
of the date of publication of this notice. Any interested party may
request a hearing within 30 days of publication. Any hearing, if
requested, will be held 44 days after the date of publication or the
first business day thereafter.
Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the
respective case briefs and rebuttal briefs. Case briefs from interested
parties and rebuttal briefs, limited to the issues raised in the
respective case briefs, may be submitted not later than 30 days and 37
days, respectively, from the date of publication of these preliminary
results. See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii) and (d)(1).
[[Page 43346]]
Parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding
are requested to submit with each argument (1) a statement of the issue
and (2) a brief summary of the argument. Parties are also encouraged to
provide a summary of the arguments not to exceed five pages and a table
of statutes, regulations, and cases cited.
The Department will subsequently issue the final results of this
administrative review, including the results of its analysis of issues
raised in any such written briefs or at the hearing, if held, not later
than 120 days after the date of publication of this notice.
Interested parties who wish to request a hearing or to participate
if one is requested, must submit a written request to the Assistant
Secretary for Import Administration, Room B-099, within 30 days of the
date of publication of this notice. Requests should contain: (1) The
party's name, address and telephone number; (2) the number of
participants; and (3) a list of issues to be discussed. See 19 CFR
351.310(c).
Assessment Rates
The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall
assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. The Department
will issue appropriate appraisement instructions directly to the
Customs Service upon completion of this review. The final results of
this review shall be the basis for the assessment of antidumping duties
on entries of merchandise covered by this review and for future
deposits of estimated duties. We will instruct the Customs Service to
assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this
review if any assessment rate calculated in the final results of this
review is above de minimis (i.e, at or above 0.5 percent) (see, 19 CFR
351.106(c)(2)). For assessment purposes, if applicable, we intend to
calculate an importer-specific assessment rate by aggregating the
dumping margins calculated for all U.S. sales and dividing this amount
by the total quantity sold.
Cash Deposit Requirements
The following cash deposit requirements will be effective for all
shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the
final results of this administrative review, as provided by section
751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit rate for Dinsen will be that
established in the final results of this review, except if the rate is
less than 0.5 percent, and therefore, de minimis within the meaning of
19 CFR 351.106(c)(1), in which case the cash deposit rate will be zero;
(2) for merchandise exported by manufacturers or exporters not covered
in this review but covered in the original less-than-fair-value (LTFV)
investigation, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the rate
published in the final determination; or (3) if the manufacturer or
exporter is not a firm covered in this review or the LTFV
investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be
the rate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of
the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other
manufacturers or exporters will continue to be 2.98 percent, the ``All
Others'' rate made effective by the LTFV investigation. These
requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until publication of
the final results of the next administrative review.
This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their
responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate regarding
the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the
relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this
requirement could result in the Secretary's presumption that
reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent
assessment of double antidumping duties. See 19 CFR 351.402(f)(3).
This administrative review and notice are published in accordance
with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
Dated: August 2, 1999.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 99-20559 Filed 8-9-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P