[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 188 (Thursday, September 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49347-49349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-24229]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-821-813]


Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Not Less Than Fair 
Value: Pure Magnesium From the Russian Federation

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

ACTION: Notice of final determination of sales at not less than fair 
value.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: September 27, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alysia Wilson or Shawn Thompson,

[[Page 49348]]

AD/CVD Enforcement Group I, Office 2, Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 
Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 
(202) 482-0108 or (202) 482-1776, respectively.
    Summary: The Department of Commerce is conducting an antidumping 
duty investigation of pure magnesium from the Russian Federation. We 
determine that sales have not been made at less than fair value.
    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 of Commerce's (``Department's'') regulations are to 19 CFR 
part 351 (2000).
    Final Determination: We determine that pure magnesium from the 
Russian Federation (Russia) is not being, nor is it likely to be, sold 
in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in 
section 735 of the Act.

Case History

    The preliminary determination in this investigation was issued on 
April 23, 2001. See, Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at 
Not Less Than Fair Value: Pure Magnesium From the Russian Federation, 
66 FR 21319 (April 30, 2001) (Preliminary Determination).
    In May and June, 2001, we conducted verification of the 
questionnaire responses submitted by each of the respondents in this 
investigation (i.e., Avisma Titanium Magnesium Works (Avisma), 
Greenwich Metals Corporation (Greenwich), and Solikamsk Magnesium Works 
(SMW)).
    In July 2001, we received case briefs from the petitioners (i.e., 
Magnesium Corporation of America, the United Steelworkers of America, 
USWA 482 and 8319, and Concerned Employees of Northwest Alloys, Inc.), 
the three respondents noted above, and a U.S. producer of magnesium-
based reagent mixtures and importer of magnesium products (i.e., 
Rossborough Manufacturing Co. (Rossborough)). Also in July 2001, we 
received rebuttal briefs from the petitioners, Avisma, Greenwich, and 
Rossborough.
    Although the deadline for this determination was originally 
September 12, 2001, in light of the events of September 11, 2001 and 
the subsequent closure of the Federal Government for reasons of 
security, the timeframe for issuing this determination has been 
extended by two days.

Scope of Investigation

    The scope of this investigation includes imports of pure magnesium 
products, regardless of chemistry, form, or size, including, without 
limitation, ingots, raspings, granules, turnings, chips, powder, and 
briquettes.
    Pure magnesium includes: (1) Products that contain at least 99.95 
percent primary magnesium, by weight (generally referred to as ``ultra-
pure'' magnesium); (2) products that contain less than 99.95 percent 
but not less than 99.8 percent primary magnesium, by weight (generally 
referred to as ``pure'' magnesium); (3) chemical combinations of pure 
magnesium and other material(s) in which the pure magnesium content is 
50 percent or greater, but less than 99.8 percent, by weight, that do 
not conform to an ``ASTM Specification for Magnesium Alloy'' \1\ 
(generally referred to as ``off-specification pure'' magnesium); and 
(4) physical mixtures of pure magnesium and other material(s) in which 
the pure magnesium content is 50 percent or greater, but less than 99.8 
percent, by weight. Excluded from this order are mixtures containing 90 
percent or less pure magnesium by weight and one or more of certain 
non-magnesium granular materials to make magnesium-based reagent 
mixtures. The non-magnesium granular materials which the Department is 
aware are used to make such excluded reagents are: Lime, calcium metal, 
calcium silicon, calcium carbide, calcium carbonate, carbon, slag 
coagulants, fluorspar, nephaline syenite, feldspar, aluminum, alumina 
(Al2O3), calcium aluminate, soda ash, 
hydrocarbons, graphite, coke, silicon, rare earth metals/mischmetal, 
cryolite, silica/fly ash, magnesium oxide, periclase, ferroalloys, 
dolomitic lime, and colemanite. A party importing a magnesium-based 
reagent which includes one or more materials not on this list is 
required to seek a scope clarification from the Department before such 
a mixture may be imported free of antidumping duties.
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    \1\ The meaning of this term is the same as that used by the 
American Society for Testing and Materials in its Annual Book of 
ASTM Standards: Volume 01.02 Aluminum and Magnesium Alloys.
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    The merchandise subject to this investigation is classifiable under 
items 8104.11.00, 8104.19.00, and 8104.30.00 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheadings 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the merchandise under investigation is dispositive.
    For a full discussion of scope comments and determinations, see the 
accompanying September 14, 2001, Issue and Decision Memorandum from 
Richard W. Moreland, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import 
Administration, to Faryar Shirzad, Assistant Secretary for Import 
Administration (``Issues and Descision Memorandum''), Comment 12, which 
is on file in the Central Records Unit of the main Department building 
(``B-099'') and on the Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (``POI'') is April 1, 2000, through 
September 30, 2000, which corresponds to the two most recent fiscal 
quarters prior to the month of the filing of the petition (i.e., 
October 2000).

Nonmarket Economy Country Status for Russia

    The Department has treated Russia as a nonmarket economy (NME) 
country in all past antidumping duty investigations and administrative 
reviews. See, e.g., Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than 
Fair Value: Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from 
the Russian Federation, 64 FR 38626 (July 19, 1999); Titanium Sponge 
from the Russian Federation: Final Results of Antidumping 
Administrative Review, 64 FR 1599 (Jan. 11, 1999); Notice of Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length 
Carbon Steel Plate from the Russian Federation, 62 FR 61787 (Nov. 19, 
1997); Notice of Final Determination of Sale at Less Than Fair Value: 
Pure Magnesium and Alloy Magnesium from the Russian Federation, 60 FR 
16440 (Mar. 30, 1995) (Magnesium 1995 Investigation). A designation as 
a NME remains in effect until it is revoked by the Department. See 
section 771(18)(C) of the Act. No party in this investigation has 
requested a revocation of Russia's NME status. Therefore, we have 
continued to treat Russia as a NME in this investigation. For further 
details, see the Preliminary Determination.

Separate Rates

    In our preliminary determination, we found that Avisma and SMW had 
met the criteria for the application of separate antidumping rates. We 
have not received any other information since the preliminary 
determination which would warrant reconsideration of our separate rates 
determination with respect to these two companies. Therefore, we 
continue to find that

[[Page 49349]]

Avisma and SMW should be assigned individual dumping margins.
    Regarding Greenwich, as stated in the Preliminary Determination, 
since Greenwich is located in a market economy country and is not 
affiliated with a Russian producer/exporter, we calculated a separate 
rate in accordance with our practice. See Notice of Final Determination 
of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Bicycles From the People's Republic 
of China, 61 FR 19026, 19027 (Apr. 30, 1996).

Russia-Wide Rate

    As explained in the Preliminary Determination, in all NME cases, 
the Department implements a policy whereby there is a rebuttable 
presumption that all exporters or producers located in the NME comprise 
a single exporter under common government control, the ``NME entity.'' 
The Department assigns a single NME rate to the NME entity unless an 
exporter can demonstrate eligibility for a separate rate.
    Information on the record of this investigation indicates that 
Avisma and SMW were the only Russian producers and/or exporters of the 
subject merchandise with sales or shipments to the United States during 
the POI. Based upon our examination and clarification of Customs data, 
we have determined that there are no other Russian producers and/or 
exporters of the subject merchandise and consequently none which were 
required to respond to the Department's questionnaire. See the 
memorandum from Christopher Priddy to the file entitled ``Examination 
of Customs Data for Pure Magnesium Russian Imports During the Period of 
Investigation'' dated April 23, 2001. We have not received any other 
information since the Preliminary Determination which would warrant 
reconsideration of this determination. Therefore, we have continued not 
to assign a Russia-wide rate in this investigation.

Surrogate Country

    For purposes of the final determination, we find that South Africa 
remains the appropriate primary surrogate country for Russia. For 
further discussion and analysis regarding the surrogate country 
selection for Russia, see the Preliminary Determination.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case briefs by parties to this proceeding 
and to which we have responded are listed in the Appendix to this 
notice and addressed in the Decision 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 Commerce building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Decision Memorandum can be accessed 
directly on the Web at http://ia.ita.doc.gov. The paper copy and 
electronic version of the Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of comments received, we have made certain 
changes to the margin calculations. For a discussion of these changes, 
see the ``Margin Calculations'' section of the Decision Memorandum.

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.

Final Determination

    We determine that the following percentage weighted-average margins 
exist for the period April 1, 2000 through September 30, 2000:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Margin
                   Manufacturer/exporter                      (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avisma Titanium Magnesium Works............................         0.00
Greenwich Metals Corporation...............................         0.00
Solikamsk Magnesium Works..................................         0.00
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Suspension of Liquidation

    Because the estimated weighted-average dumping margins for all the 
examined companies are 0.00 percent, we are not directing the Customs 
Service to suspend liquidation of entries of pure magnesium from 
Russia.

Notification of the International Trade Commission

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the 
International Trade Commission of our determination.
    This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written 
notification of return/destruction of APO materials or conversion to 
judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with 
the regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 735(d) and 777(i) of the Act.

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

Appendix--Issues in the Decision Memorandum

Comment 1: Valuation of Factory Overhead and Profit
Comment 2: Adjustment to Factory Overhead for Cell Rebuild Costs
Comment 3: Knowledge of Destination of Sales--Avisma
Comment 4: By-Product Processing Costs--Avisma
Comment 5: Treatment of Sulfur and Boric Acid--Avisma
Comment 6: Chlorine Offset Purity Levels--Avisma
Comment 7: Rounding Surrogate Value Used for Electricity--Avisma
Comment 8: Trial Shipments--Greenwich
Comment 9: Date of Sale--Greenwich
Comment 10: U.S. Freight Expenses--SMW
Comment 11: U.S. Warehousing Expenses--SMW
Comment 12: Scope
Comment 13: Standing

[FR Doc. 01-24229 Filed 9-26-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P