[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 121 (Friday, June 22, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33526-33528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-15742]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-580-844]


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bars From the Republic of Korea

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

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 22, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Manning or Jeff Pedersen at (202) 
482-3936 and (202) 482-4195, AD/CVD Enforcement, Group II, Office 4, 
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.

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 to the Department's regulations are 
to 19 CFR Part 351 (2000).

Final Determination

    We determine that steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from the 
Republic of Korea (Korea) is being sold, or is likely to be sold, in 
the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in 
section 735 of the Act. The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are 
shown in the Final Determination of Investigation section of this 
notice.

Case History

    The preliminary determination in this investigation was published 
on January 30, 2001. See Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales 
at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of Final Determination: Steel 
Concrete Reinforcing Bars From the Republic of

[[Page 33527]]

Korea, 66 FR 8348 (January 30, 2001) (Preliminary Determination). Since 
the preliminary determination, we verified the questionnaire responses 
of Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd. (DSM) and Korea Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. 
(KISCO), the respondents, on February 12 through February 23, 2001, and 
on March 28 through March 30, 2001.\1\ The petitioner \2\ and 
respondent filed case briefs on May 21, 2001 and rebuttal briefs on May 
29, 2001. A public hearing was not held for this investigation because 
the petitioner and respondent withdrew their request for such a hearing 
on June 1, 2001 and June 8, 2001, respectively.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The Department collapsed DSM and KISCO into a single entity, 
referred to as DSM/KISCO, for the purposes of this antidumping 
investigation. See Memorandum from Ronald Trentham to Tom Futtner, 
``Decision Memorandum: Whether to Collapse Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., 
Ltd. and Korea Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. Into a Single Entity,'' 
dated December 5, 2000.
    \2\ The petitioner in the rebar investigations is the Rebar 
Trade Action Coalition (RTAC), and its individual members, 
AmeriSteel, Auburn Steel Co., Inc., Birmingham Steel Corp., Border 
Steel, Inc., Marion Steel Company, Riverview Steel, and Nucor Steel 
and CMC Steel Group. (Auburn Steel was not a petitioner in the 
Indonesia case).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Section 734(m) of the Act states that in the case of regional 
industry investigations, the administering authority shall offer 
exporters the opportunity to enter into suspension agreements. Proposed 
and finalized agreements in these cases must comport with the 
requirements set forth under section 734 of the Act for the suspension 
of antidumping duty investigations. All exporters participating in the 
instant investigation were aware of their opportunity to propose 
suspension agreements. See Memorandum from Holly A. Kuga to The File, 
``Opportunity to Propose Suspension Agreements,'' dated March 30, 2001.
    The Department has conducted this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act.

Scope of Investigation

    For purposes of this investigation, the product covered is all 
rebar sold in straight lengths, currently classifiable in the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under item 
number 7214.20.00 or any other tariff item number. Specifically 
excluded are plain rounds (i.e., non-deformed or smooth bars) and rebar 
that has been further processed through bending or coating. HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs purposes. The 
written description of the scope of this proceeding is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 1999, through March 
31, 2000. This period corresponds to the four most recent fiscal 
quarters prior to the month of the filing of the petition (i.e., June 
2000).

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act, we verified the 
information submitted by the respondents for use in our final 
determination. We used standard verification procedures including 
examination of relevant accounting and production records, and original 
source documents provided by the respondents.

Use of Facts Available

    In the preliminary determination, the Department determined that 
the application of total adverse facts available (FA) was appropriate 
with respect to Hanbo Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (Hanbo), a mandatory 
respondent that failed to respond to the Department's questionnaire. As 
FA, the Department applied a margin rate of 102.28 percent, the highest 
alleged margin for Korea in the petition. The interested parties did 
not object to the use of adverse facts available for Hanbo, or to the 
Department's choice of facts available, and no new facts were submitted 
which would cause the Department to revisit this decision. Therefore, 
for the reasons set out in the preliminary determination, we have 
continued to use the highest margin alleged by the petitioner for the 
purposes of this final determination notice.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this proceeding and to which we have responded are listed in the 
Appendix to this notice and addressed in the Memorandum from Bernard T. 
Carreau to Faryar Shirzad, ``Issues Memorandum for the Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Steel Concrete 
Reinforcing Bars from the Republic of Korea,'' dated June 14, 2001 
(Issues Memorandum), which is hereby adopted by this notice. Parties 
can find a complete discussion of the 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 
Issues Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov. The paper copy and electronic version of the Issues 
Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our findings at verification, and analysis of comments 
received, we have made adjustments to the calculation methodologies in 
calculating the final dumping margin in this proceeding. We made the 
following changes: (1) Revised DSM and KISCO's inventory carrying cost, 
(2) deducted a new U.S. direct selling expense, USBANKU, in our 
calculation of the net U.S. price for sales through DSM's U.S. 
affiliate, (3) adjusted KISCO's general and administrative (G&A) 
expense rate and interest expense rate, and (4) adjusted DSM's G&A 
expense rate and interest expense rate. For a further discussion of 
these changes, see Memorandum from Mark Manning to the File, 
``Calculation Memorandum of the Final Determination for the 
Investigation of Donguku Steel Mill Col., Ltd., and Korea Iron & Steel 
Co., Ltd.,'' June 14, 2001; Memorandum from Michael Harrison to Neal 
Halper, ``Cost of Production and Constructed Value Calculation 
Adjustments for the Final Determination,'' June 14, 2001; and 
Memorandum from Robert Greger to Neal Halper, ``Cost of Production and 
Constructed Value Calculation Adjustments for the Final 
Determination,'' June 14, 2001.

Critical Circumstances

    Based on our analysis of the information on the record of this 
investigation, we have determined, for purposes of the final 
determination, that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to 
imports of rebar from DSM/KISCO and the ``all others'' companies, but 
do exist with respect to imports of rebar from Hanbo. For further 
details, see Memorandum from Holly A. Kuga to Bernard T. Carreau, 
``Antidumping Duty Investigation of Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bars 
from the Republic of Korea--Final Determination of Critical 
Circumstances,'' dated June 14, 2001.

Final Determination of Investigation

    We determine that the following weighted-average percentage margins 
exist for the period April 1, 1999 through March 31, 2000:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                    Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd./Korea Iron & Steel Co., Ltd....       22.89
Hambo Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.................................      102.28
All Others..................................................       22.89
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 33528]]

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, we are instructing the 
U.S. Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all entries 
of rebar from Korea that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after January 30, 2001 (the date of publication of 
the Preliminary Determination in the Federal Register). In the case of 
rebar produced by Hanbo, because of our affirmative critical 
circumstances finding, and in accordance with section 735(a)(3) of the 
Act, we are directing the U.S. Customs Service to suspend liquidation 
of all entries of rebar produced by Hanbo that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after November 1, 2000, 
which is 90 days prior to the date the Preliminary Determination was 
published in the Federal Register. The Customs Service shall continue 
to require a cash deposit or the posting of a bond equal to the 
estimated amount by which the normal value exceeds the U.S. price as 
shown above. The suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in 
effect until further notice.

International Trade Commission 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 determine, within 45 days, 
whether these imports are causing material injury, or threat of 
material injury, to an industry in the United States. If the ITC 
determines that material injury, or threat of 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 order directing Customs 
officials 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 in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: June 14, 2001.
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Appendix--Topics in Issues Memorandum

Issues Relating to Both DSM and KISCO

    1. Collapsing
    2. Allocation of Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses

Issues Relating to DSM

    3. Level of Trade Adjustment
    4. Inventory Carrying Cost
    5. U.S. Short-Term Interest Rate Calculation
    6. Unreported Affiliated Party
    7. Gain on Disposal of Fixed Assets
    8. Short-Term Interest Expense Rate
    9. Foreign Exchange Gains and Losses
    10. Scrap Recovery

Issues Relating to KISCO

    11. U.S. Short-term Interest Rate Calculation
    12. Upward Price Adjustments
    13. General and Administrative Expenses

[FR Doc. 01-15742 Filed 6-21-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P