[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 12, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42985-42986]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-17645]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-588-853]


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Circular Seamless Stainless Steel Hollow Products From Japan

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

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 12, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Constance Handley at (202) 482-0631 or 
Charles Riggle at (202) 482-0650, Import Administration, Room 1870, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.

The Applicable Statute and Regulations

    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 Round Agreements Act (URAA). In addition, unless otherwise 
indicated, all citations to the Department of Commerce (the Department) 
regulations refer to the regulations codified at 19 CFR part 351 (April 
1999).

Final Determination

    We determine that circular seamless stainless steel hollow products 
from Japan are being sold in the United States at less than fair value 
(LTFV), as provided in section 735 of the Act. The estimated margins 
are shown in the Suspension of Liquidation section of this notice.

Case History

    The preliminary determination in this investigation was issued on 
April 21, 2000. See Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value: Circular Seamless Stainless Steel Hollow Products 
from Japan, 65 FR 25305 (May, 1, 2000) (Preliminary Determination). On 
May 31, 2000, case briefs were filed by Plymouth Tube Company (Plymouth 
Tube) and the petitioners.\1\ Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (SMI) and 
the petitioners submitted rebuttal briefs on June 5, 2000. A hearing 
was held on June 26, 2000.
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    \1\ The petitioners include Altx, Inc., American Extruded 
Products, PMAC Ltd, DMV Stainless USA, Inc., Salem Tube Inc., 
Sandvik Steel Co., International Extruded Products LLC, Pennsylvania 
Extruded Company (Pexco) and the United Steel Workers of America, 
AFL-CIO/CLC.
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    On May 31, 2000, SMI, Kawasaki Steel Corporation (Kawasaki) and 
Mitsui Tubular Products Inc., requested that the Department issue to 
the Customs Service a clarification which would allow certain shipments 
of proprietary grade oil country tubular goods (OCTG), which have been 
excluded from the scope of the investigation, to enter without 
suspension of liquidation.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this investigation are addressed in the ``Issues and Decision 
Memorandum'' (Decision Memorandum) from Holly A. Kuga, Acting Deputy 
Assistant Secretary, Group II, Import Administration, to Troy H. Cribb, 
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated July 5, 
2000, which is hereby adopted by this notice.
    A list of the issues which parties have raised and to which we have 
responded, all of which are in the Decision

[[Page 42986]]

Memorandum, is attached to this notice as an Appendix. Parties can find 
a complete discussion of all issues raised in this investigation 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 World Wide Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov. The 
paper copy and electronic version of the Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.

Scope of Investigation

    The scope of the investigation has been amended since the 
preliminary determination. For a description of the scope of this 
investigation, see the ``Scope of Investigation'' section, as well as 
item 2 in the ``Discussion of the Issues'' section, of the Decision 
Memorandum, which is on file in B-099 and available on the Web at 
http://ia.ita.doc.gov.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (POI) is October 1, 1998, through 
September 30, 1999.

Facts Available

    In the preliminary determination, the Department based the dumping 
margins for the mandatory respondents, SMI and Sanyo Special Tube 
(Sanyo), on facts otherwise available pursuant to section 776(a)(2)(A) 
of the Act. For the final determination, the use of facts otherwise 
available continues to be necessary because the record does not contain 
company-specific information. Sanyo failed to respond to the 
Department's questionnaire, nor did it provide any indication that it 
was unable to do so. SMI responded to the Department's questionnaire, 
but failed to respond to all of the supplemental questionnaires and 
subsequently withdrew all of its questionnaire responses from the 
record. See Memorandum from Constance Handley to the File, re: Return 
of Sumitomo Metal Industries Questionnaire Responses, dated May 12, 
2000. Therefore, the Department found that both Sanyo and SMI failed to 
cooperate by not acting to the best of their ability. As a result, 
pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act, the Department used an adverse 
inference in selecting from the facts available. Specifically, the 
Department assigned to the mandatory respondents the highest margin 
alleged in the petition. We continue to find this margin corroborated, 
pursuant to section 776(c) of the Act, for the reasons discussed in the 
Preliminary Determination. No interested parties have objected to the 
use of adverse facts available for the mandatory respondents in this 
investigation, nor to the Department's choice of facts available. In 
addition, the Department has left the ``All Others Rate'' unchanged 
from the preliminary determination.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, we are 
directing the Customs Service to continue to suspend all entries of 
circular seamless stainless steel hollow products from Japan, that are 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after May 
1, 2000, the date of publication of our preliminary determination. The 
Customs Service shall require a cash deposit or bond equal to the 
dumping margin, as indicated in the chart below. These instructions 
suspending liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                   Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent)
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Sanyo Special Tube.........................................       156.81
Sumitomo Metal Industries..................................       156.81
All Others.................................................        62.14
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ITC Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the 
International Trade Commission (ITC) of our determination. As our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will, within 45 days, determine 
whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material 
injury to, the U.S. industry. If the ITC determines that material 
injury or threat of material injury does not exist, the proceeding will 
be terminated and all securities posted will be refunded or canceled. 
If the ITC determines that such injury does exist, the Department will 
issue an antidumping duty order directing the Customs Service to assess 
antidumping duties on all imports of the subject merchandise entered, 
or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective 
date of the suspension of liquidation.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: July 5, 2000.
Troy H. Cribb,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix I--Issues in Decision Memo

Comments and Responses

1. Ultra-high purity 316L Redraw Hollows
2. Scope Exclusion

[FR Doc. 00-17645 Filed 7-11-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P