[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 49 (Monday, March 13, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13364-13366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-6087]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-580-825]


Oil Country Tubular Goods From Korea; Final Results of 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

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

ACTION: Notice of final results of antidumping duty administrative 
review.

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SUMMARY: On September 8, 1999, the Department of Commerce (``the 
Department'') published the preliminary results of the antidumping duty 
administrative review on oil country tubular goods (``OCTG'') from 
Korea (64 FR 48783). This review covers one manufacturer/exporter of 
the subject merchandise to the United States, SeAH Steel Corporation 
(``SeAH''), and the period August 1, 1997 through July 31, 1998, which 
is the third period of review (``POR'').
    Based on our analysis of the comments received and our discussion 
of the currency conversion methodology explained below, we have made a 
change in the margin calculations. Therefore, the final results differ 
from the preliminary results. The final weighted-average dumping margin 
is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of Review.''

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 13, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Lyons, Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 
(202) 482-0374.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Applicable Statute

    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

[[Page 13365]]

to the Department's regulations are references to the provisions 
codified at 19 CFR Part 351 (1999).

Background

    On August 11, 1995, the Department published in the Federal 
Register (60 FR 41058) the antidumping duty order on oil country 
tubular goods from Korea. On September 8, 1999, the Department 
published in the Federal Register the preliminary results of the 
antidumping duty administrative review of this antidumping order (64 FR 
48783) for the period August 1, 1997 through July 31, 1998. We invited 
interested parties to comment and received two comments and rebuttals 
regarding SeAH. At the request of certain interested parties, we held a 
public hearing on October 19, 1999. The Department has now completed 
this review in accordance with section 751(a) of the Act.
    Under section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act, the Department may extend 
the deadline for completion of an administrative review if it 
determines that it is not practicable to complete the review within the 
statutory time limit. On December 14, 1999, the Department published a 
notice of extension of the time limit for the final results in the 
review to March 6, 2000. See Notice of Extension of Time Limit for 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Oil Country Tubular Goods 
from Korea, 64 FR 69723.

Scope of Review

    The products covered by this order are oil country tubular goods 
(``OCTG''), hollow steel products of circular cross-section, including 
only oil well casing and tubing, of iron (other than cast iron) or 
steel (both carbon and alloy), whether seamless or welded, whether or 
not conforming to American Petroleum Institute (``API'') or non-API 
specifications, whether finished or unfinished (including green tubes 
and limited service OCTG products). This scope does not cover casing or 
tubing pipe containing 10.5 percent or more of chromium, or drill pipe. 
The products subject to this order are currently classified in the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTSUS'') under item 
numbers: 7304.29.10.10, 7304.29.10.20, 7304.29.10.30, 7304.29.10.40, 
7304.29.10.50, 7304.29.10.60, 7304.29.10.80, 7304.29.20.10, 
7304.29.20.20, 7304.29.20.30, 7304.29.20.40, 7304.29.20.50, 
7304.29.20.60, 7304.29.20.80, 7304.29.30.10, 7304.29.30.20, 
7304.29.30.30, 7304.29.30.40, 7304.29.30.50, 7304.29.30.60, 
7304.29.30.80, 7304.29.40.10, 7304.29.40.20, 7304.29.40.30, 
7304.29.40.40, 7304.29.40.50, 7304.29.40.60, 7304.29.40.80, 
7304.29.50.15, 7304.29.50.30, 7304.29.50.45, 7304.29.50.60, 
7304.29.50.75, 7304.29.60.15, 7304.29.60.30, 7304.29.60.45, 
7304.29.60.60, 7304.29.60.75, 7305.20.20.00, 7305.20.40.00, 
7305.20.60.00, 7305.20.80.00, 7306.20.10.30, 7306.20.10.90, 
7306.20.20.00, 7306.20.30.00, 7306.20.40.00, 7306.20.60.10, 
7306.20.60.50, 7306.20.80.10, and 7306.20.80.50. The HTSUS item numbers 
are provided for convenience and Customs purposes. The written 
description remains dispositive of the scope of this review.

Period of Review

    The period of review is August 1, 1997 through July 31, 1998.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this administrative review are addressed in the ``Issues and Decision 
Memorandum'' (Decision Memorandum) from Joseph A. Spetrini, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary, Import Administration, to Robert S. LaRussa, 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated March 6, 2000, 
which is hereby adopted and incorporated by reference into this notice. 
A list of the issues which parties have raised and to which we have 
responded, all of which are in the Decision Memorandum, is attached to 
this notice as an Appendix. Parties can find a complete discussion of 
all issues raised in this review and the corresponding recommendations 
in this public memorandum which is on file in the Central Records Unit, 
room B-099 of the main Department building.
    In addition, a complete version of the Decision Memorandum can be 
accessed directly on the Web at www.ita.doc.gov/import__admin/records/
frn/. The paper copy and electronic version of the Decision Memorandum 
are identical in content.

Currency Conversion

    We made currency conversions in accordance with section 773A of the 
Act. Section 773A(a) of the Act directs the Department to use a daily 
exchange rate to convert foreign currencies into U.S. dollars unless 
the daily rate involves a fluctuation. The Department considers a 
``fluctuation'' to exist when the daily exchange rate differs from the 
benchmark rate by 2.25 percent or more. The benchmark is defined as the 
moving average of rates for the past 40 business days. When we 
determine a fluctuation to have existed, we generally substitute the 
benchmark rate for the daily rate, in accordance with established 
practice. (An exception to this rule is described below.) (For an 
explanation of this method, see Policy Bulletin 96-1: Currency 
Conversions, 61 FR 9434 (March 8, 1996)).
    Our analysis of the U.S. dollar/Korean won exchange rates 
demonstrates that the Korean won declined rapidly in November and 
December 1997. Specifically, the won declined more than 40 percent over 
this two-month period. The decline was, in both speed and magnitude, 
many times more severe than any change in the dollar-won exchange rate 
during recent years, and it did not rebound significantly in a short 
time. As such, we determine that the decline in the won during November 
and December 1997 was of such magnitude that the dollar-won exchange 
rate cannot reasonably be viewed as having simply fluctuated at that 
time, i.e., as having experienced only a momentary drop in value 
relative to the normal benchmark. Accordingly, the Department used 
actual daily exchange rates exclusively in November and December 1997. 
See Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip from the Republic of Korea, 64 FR 
30664, 30670 (June 8, 1999) (``Stainless Steel from Korea'').
    We note, however, that we have refined our methodology somewhat 
from that applied in both Stainless Steel from Korea and our 
preliminary results of the instant review. We recognize that, following 
a large and precipitous decline in the value of a currency, a period 
may exist wherein it is unclear whether further declines are a 
continuation of the large and precipitous decline or merely 
fluctuations. Under the circumstances of this case, such uncertainty 
may have existed following the large, precipitous drop in November and 
December 1997. Thus, we devised a methodology for identifying the point 
following a precipitous drop at which it is reasonable to presume that 
rates differing more than 2.25 percent from the benchmark were merely 
fluctuating. Following the precipitous drop in November and December 
1997, we continued to use only actual daily rates until the daily rates 
were not more than 2.25 percent below the average of the 20 previous 
daily rates for five consecutive days. At that point, we determined 
that the pattern of daily rates no longer reasonably precluded the 
possibility that they were merely ``fluctuating.'' Using a 20-day 
average for this purpose

[[Page 13366]]

provides a reasonable indication that it is no longer necessary to 
refrain from using the normal methodology, while avoiding the use of 
daily rates exclusively for an excessive period of time.
    Accordingly, from the first of these five days, we resumed 
classifying daily rates as ``fluctuating'' or ``normal'' in accordance 
with our standard practice, except that we began with a 20-day 
benchmark and on each succeeding day added one daily rate to the 
average until the normal 40-day average was restored as the benchmark. 
See Notice of Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: 
Certain Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes from Thailand, 64 FR 56759, 
56763 (October 21, 1999). See also Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, 
Sheet and Strip From Korea: Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Review and Notice of Intent Not To Revoke in Part, 64 FR 
62648, 62649 (November 17, 1999). Applying this methodology in the 
instant case, we used daily rates from November 3, 1997, through 
January 13, 1998. We then resumed the use of our normal methodology, 
starting with a benchmark based on the average of the 20 reported daily 
rates from January 14, 1998. We used the normal 40-day benchmark from 
February 12, 1998 to the close of the review period.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

    Based on our analysis of comments received, we have made a change 
in the margin calculations to account for the refined exchange rate 
methodology discussed above. We made no additional changes to the 
calculations. Any alleged programming or clerical errors with which we 
do not agree are discussed in the relevant sections of the ``Decision 
Memorandum.''

Final Results of Review

    We determine that the following percentage weighted-average dumping 
margins exist for the period August 1, 1997 through July 31, 1998:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SeAH Steel Company..........................................       15.02
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Department shall determine, and Customs shall assess, 
antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. In accordance with 19 
CFR 351.212(b), we have calculated exporter/importer-specific 
assessment rates. With respect to both export price and constructed 
export price sales, we divided the total dumping margins for the 
reviewed sales by the total entered value of those reviewed sales for 
each importer. We will direct Customs to assess the resulting margins 
against the entered Customs values for the subject merchandise on each 
of that importer's entries under the relevant order during the review 
period.

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of this notice of final results of administrative review 
for all shipments of oil country tubular goods from Korea entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication, as provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1) The cash 
deposit rate for the reviewed company will be the rate shown above; (2) 
for previously reviewed or investigated companies not listed above, the 
cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate 
published for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm 
covered in this review, a prior review, or the original less-than-fair-
value (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 12.17 percent. 
This rate is the ``All Others'' rate from the LTFV investigation.
    These deposit requirements shall remain in effect until publication 
of the final results of the next administrative review.
    This notice also serves as a final 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 doubled antidumping duties.
    This notice also serves as the only reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective orders (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305 or conversion to 
judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with 
the regulations and terms of an APO is a violation which is subject to 
sanction.
    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections section 751(a)(1) and 777(i) of the Act.

    Dated: March 6, 2000.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix 1--Issues in Decision Memo

Comments and Responses

1. Date of Sale for Third-Country Sales
2. Normal Value Currency Conversions for Third-Country Sales

[FR Doc. 00-6087 Filed 3-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P