[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 28 (Monday, February 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6224-6226]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-3255]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-428-832, A-201-830, A-841-805, A-274-804, A-823-812]


Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod From Germany, Mexico, Moldova, 
Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine: Notice of Preliminary Determination 
of Critical Circumstances

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

ACTION: Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod From Germany, Mexico, Moldova, 
Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine: Notice of Preliminary Determination 
of Critical Circumstances.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: February 11, 2002.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has preliminarily determined that 
critical circumstances exist for imports of carbon and alloy steel wire 
rod (steel wire rod) from Germany, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and 
Tobago, and Ukraine, pursuant to section 733(e)(2) of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended (the Tariff Act).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Flessner at (202) 482-6312 
(Germany); Marin Weaver at (202) 482-2336 (Mexico); Scott Lindsay at 
(202) 482-0780 (Moldova), Magd Zalok at (202) 482-4162 (Trinidad and 
Tobago); or Lori Ellison at (202) 482-5811 (Ukraine), Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20230.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Applicable Statute and Regulations

    Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are 
references to the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Tariff Act). In 
addition, unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department's 
regulations are references to the provisions codified at 19 CFR part 
351 (2000).

Background

    On October 2, 2001, the Department initiated investigations to 
determine whether imports of steel wire rod from, inter alia, Brazil, 
Germany, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine are being, 
or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value 
(66 FR 50164, October 2, 2001). On October 29, 2001, the International 
Trade Commission (the Commission) published its determination that 
there is a reasonable indication of material injury to the domestic 
industry from imports of steel wire rod from all of these countries. On 
December 5, 2001, petitioners \1\ alleged that there is a reasonable 
basis to believe or suspect critical circumstances exist with respect 
to the antidumping investigations of steel wire rod from Brazil, 
Germany, Mexico, Moldova and Ukraine. Petitioners added Trinidad and 
Tobago to its allegation in a subsequent letter dated December 21, 
2001.
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    \1\ Petitioners are: Co-Steel Raritan, Inc., GS Industries, 
Keystone Consolidated Industries, Inc., and North Star Steel Texas, 
Inc.
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    In accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), because petitioners 
submitted critical circumstances allegations more than 20 days before 
the scheduled date of the preliminary determination, the Department 
must issue preliminary critical circumstances determinations not later 
than the date of the preliminary determination. In a policy bulletin 
issued on October 8, 1998, the Department stated it may issue a 
preliminary critical circumstances determination prior to the date of 
the preliminary determinations of sales at less than fair value, 
assuming sufficient evidence of critical circumstances is available. 
See Change in Policy Regarding Timing of Issuance of Critical 
Circumstances Determinations, 63 FR 55364. In accordance with this 
policy, at this time we are issuing the preliminary critical 
circumstances decision in the investigations of steel wire rod from 
Germany, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine.\2\ A full 
discussion of our analyses may be found below and in the concurrent 
country-specific memoranda, dated February 4, 2002 (Critical 
Circumstances Memoranda). Public versions of these memoranda are on 
file in the case-specific public files maintained by the Import 
Administration Central Records Unit, in Room B-099 of the Department of 
Commerce building.
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    \2\ We intend to issue our preliminary critical circumstances 
findings with respect to Brazil concurrenlty with our preliminary 
dumping determination.

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[[Page 6225]]

Critical Circumstances

    Section 733(e)(1) of the Tariff Act provides that the Department 
will preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist if there 
is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A)(i) There is a 
history of dumping and material injury by reason of dumped imports in 
the United States or elsewhere of the subject merchandise; or (ii) the 
person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was imported knew 
or should have known that the exporter was selling the subject 
merchandise at less than its fair value and that there was likely to be 
material injury by reason of such sales; and, (B) there have been 
massive imports of the subject merchandise over a relatively short 
period. Section 351.206(h)(1) of the Department's regulations provides 
that, in determining whether imports of the subject merchandise have 
been ``massive,'' the Department normally will examine: (i) the volume 
and value of the imports; (ii) seasonal trends; and (iii) the share of 
domestic consumption accounted for by the imports. In addition, section 
351.206(h)(2) of the Department's regulations provides that an increase 
in imports of 15 percent during the ``relatively short period'' of time 
may be considered ``massive.'' Section 351.206(i) of the Department's 
regulations defines ``relatively short period'' as normally being the 
period beginning on the date the proceeding begins (i.e., the date the 
petition is filed) and ending at least three months later. The 
regulations also provide, however, that if the Department finds 
importers, exporters, or producers had reason to believe, at some time 
prior to the beginning of the proceeding, that a proceeding was likely, 
the Department may consider a period of not less than three months from 
that earlier time.
    In determining whether the relevant statutory criteria have been 
satisfied, we considered: (i) The evidence presented by petitioners in 
their December 5, 19, and 21, 2001, and their January 25, 2002 letters; 
(ii) exporter-specific shipment data requested by the Department; (iii) 
comments by interested parties in response to petitioners' allegations; 
(iii) import data available through the International Trade 
Commission's DataWeb website; and (iv) the Commission's preliminary 
injury determinations.

History of Dumping

    To determine whether there is a history of injurious dumping of the 
merchandise under investigation, in accordance with section 
733(e)(1)(A)(i) of the Tariff Act, the Department normally considers 
evidence of an existing antidumping duty order on the subject 
merchandise in the United States or elsewhere to be sufficient. See 
Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances: Steel Concrete 
Reinforcing Bars From Ukraine and Moldova, 65 Fed. Reg. 70,696 
(November 27, 2000). On November 16, 1983, the Department published an 
antidumping duty order on steel wire rod from Trinidad and Tobago. See 
Antidumping Duty Order; Carbon Steel Wire Rod from Trinidad and Tobago, 
48 FR 52111. Accordingly, we find a history of dumping of steel wire 
rod from this country. However, we are not aware of any antidumping 
order in any country on steel wire rod from Germany, Moldova, or 
Ukraine. For this reason, we do not find a history of injurious dumping 
of the subject merchandise from these countries pursuant to section 
733(e)(1)(A)(i) of the Tariff Act.

Importer Knowledge of Injurious Dumping

    In determining whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect that an importer knew or should have known the exporter was 
selling steel wire rod at less than fair value, the Department normally 
considers margins of 25 percent or more for export price sales or 15 
percent or more for constructed export price transactions sufficient to 
impute knowledge of dumping. See, e.g., Preliminary Determination of 
Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate 
from the People's Republic of China, 62 FR 31972, 31978 (October 19, 
2001). The Department normally bases its preliminary decision with 
respect to knowledge on the margins calculated in the preliminary 
determination. However, because section 733(e)(1) of the Tariff Act 
permits the Department to make a preliminary critical circumstances 
determination prior to the issuance of the preliminary dumping 
determination, we may rely on other information to make an early 
critical circumstances determination.
    In the instant cases we find the antidumping petition contains 
sufficient information to conduct our analysis of this criterion. The 
petition estimated dumping margins for Germany of 37.78 to 99.32 
percent; for Mexico of 29.63 to 40.52 percent; for Moldova of 159.00 
percent; for Trinidad and Tobago of 87.27 percent; and for Ukraine of 
101.92 percent. See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigations: 
Carbon and Certain Steel Wire Rod from Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Germany, 
Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, 
and Venezuela, 66 FR 50164 (October 2, 2001) (Initiation Notice).\3\ 
Because the highest estimated dumping margin calculated in the petition 
for each of these countries is greater than 25 percent, there is a 
reasonable basis to impute knowledge of dumping with respect to imports 
from these countries. Therefore, we have imputed to importers knowledge 
of dumping of the subject merchandise exported from Germany, Mexico, 
Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine.
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    \3\ In some cases, the Department adjusted certain elements of 
the petitioners' calculations; therefore, the margins presented 
above may differ from those presented in the August 31, 2001 
petitions.
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    In determining whether there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect an importer knew or should have known there was likely to be 
material injury by reason of dumped imports, the Department normally 
will look to the preliminary injury determination of the Commission. If 
the Commission finds a reasonable indication of present material injury 
to the relevant U.S. industry, the Department will determine a 
reasonable basis exists to impute importer knowledge there was likely 
to be material injury by reason of dumped imports. See, e.g., Final 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length 
Carbon Steel Plate from the People's Republic of China, 62 FR 61967 
(November 20, 1997). In this case the Commission has found a reasonable 
indication of present material injury due to dumping of subject imports 
of steel wire rod from each of the named countries. See Carbon and 
Certain Alloy Steel Wire Rod From Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Germany, 
Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, 
Ukraine, and Venezuela, USITC Publication No. 3456, October 2001 
(Preliminary). As a result, the Department has determined there is a 
reasonable basis to believe or suspect importers of steel wire rod from 
Germany, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine knew or 
should have known there was likely to be material injury by reason of 
these dumped imports.

Massive Imports

    In determining whether there are ``massive imports'' over a 
``relatively short period,'' pursuant to section 733(e)(1)(B) of the 
Tariff Act, the Department normally compares the import volumes of the 
subject merchandise for at least three months immediately preceding the 
filing of the

[[Page 6226]]

petition (i.e., the ``base period'') to a comparable period of at least 
three months following the filing of the petition (i.e., the 
``comparison period''). However, as stated in section 351.206(i) of the 
Department's regulations, if the Secretary finds importers, exporters, 
or producers had reason to believe at some time prior to the beginning 
of the proceeding that a proceeding was likely, then the Secretary may 
consider a time period of not less than three months from that earlier 
time. Imports normally will be considered massive when imports during 
the comparison period have increased by 15 percent or more compared to 
imports during the base period.
    For the reasons set forth in the Critical Circumstances Memoranda, 
we find sufficient bases exist for finding importers, or exporters, or 
producers knew or should have known antidumping cases were pending on 
steel wire rod imports from Germany, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and 
Tobago, and Ukraine by June 2001 at the latest. Accordingly, we 
determined December 2000 through May 2001 should serve as the ``base 
period,'' while June 2001 through November 2001 should serve as the 
``comparison period'' in determining whether or not imports have been 
massive in the comparison period.
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.206(h), we found imports increased by more 
than 15 percent for Germany, Mexico, Moldova, and Ukraine; accordingly, 
we find that imports have been massive in the comparison period for 
each of the named countries. With respect to Trinidad and Tobago, we 
found imports for the sole respondent, Caribbean Ispat, Ltd., increased 
by well over 15 percent. However, imports for Trinidad and Tobago as a 
whole rose by only 12.11 percent. Accordingly, we find imports were 
massive for Caribbean Ispat, Ltd., but not for all other exporters or 
producers. See the Critical Circumstances Memoranda for more detailed 
information.
    In summary, we find there is a reasonable basis to believe or 
suspect importers had knowledge of dumping and the likelihood of 
material injury with respect to imports of steel wire rod from Germany, 
Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine. We further find 
there have been massive imports of steel wire over a relatively short 
period from Germany, Mexico, Moldova, and Ukraine. We also find there 
have been massive imports over a relatively short time for Caribbean 
Ispat, Ltd. of Trinidad and Tobago; such imports have not been massive 
for all other exporters or producers from that country.

Conclusion

    Given the analysis summarized above, and described in more detail 
in the Critical Circumstances Memoranda, we preliminarily determine 
critical circumstances exist for imports of steel wire rod from 
Germany, Mexico, Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as for Caribbean Ispat, 
Ltd. of Trinidad and Tobago. Further, we preliminarily find critical 
circumstances do not exist for ``all others'' from Trinidad and Tobago.

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(e)(2) of the Tariff Act, if the 
Department issues an affirmative preliminary determination of sales at 
less than fair value in the investigation with respect to imports of 
steel wire rod, the Department, at that time, will direct the U.S. 
Customs Service (Customs) to suspend liquidation of all entries of 
steel wire rod from Germany, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago (from 
Caribbean Ispat, Ltd., only), and Ukraine that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 90 days prior to 
the date of publication in the Federal Register of our preliminary 
determinations in these investigations. Customs shall require a cash 
deposit or posting of a bond equal to the estimated preliminary dumping 
margins reflected in the preliminary determinations published in the 
Federal Register. The suspension of liquidation to be issued after our 
preliminary determinations will remain in effect until further notice.

Final Critical Circumstances Determinations

    We will make final determinations concerning critical circumstances 
for all countries named in petitioners' allegations when we make our 
final dumping determinations in these investigations, which will be 75 
days (unless extended) after issuance of the preliminary dumping 
determinations.

Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Tariff Act, we will notify 
the Commission of our determinations.
    This notice is issued and published pursuant to section 777(i) of 
the Tariff Act.

    Dated: February 4, 2002.
Faryar Shirzad,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-3255 Filed 2-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P