[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 139 (Monday, July 21, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43082-43084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18473]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-827]


Certain Cased Pencils from the People's Republic of China; Final 
Results and Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative 
Review

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

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

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SUMMARY:  On January 13, 2003, the Department of Commerce (the 
Department) published the preliminary results and rescission in part of 
the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on pencils from 
the People's Republic of China (PRC). The merchandise covered by this 
order is certain cased pencils (pencils). The period of review (POR) is 
December 1, 2000, through November 30, 2001. Based on our analysis of 
comments received, these final results differ from the preliminary 
results. For details regarding these changes, see the section of the 
notice entitled ``Changes Since the Preliminary Results.'' The final 
results are listed below in the ``Final Results of Review'' section.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  July 21, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Stolz or Crystal Crittenden, 
Office of AD/CVD Enforcement, Office 4, Group II, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone (202) 482-4474 or (202) 482-0989, respectively.

[[Page 43083]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On January 13, 2003, the Department published the preliminary 
results and rescission in part of the administrative review of the 
antidumping duty order on pencils from the PRC. See Certain Cased 
Pencils from the People's Republic of China; Preliminary Results and 
Rescission in Part of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 68 FR 
1591 (January 13, 2003) (Preliminary Results). We invited parties to 
comment on our preliminary results of review.
    Since the publication of the preliminary results, the following 
events have occurred. During the months of January and February 2003, 
we conducted verifications of the questionnaire responses of the 
exporter/manufacturer Tianjin Custom Wood Processing Co., Ltd. 
(CalCedar-Tianjin),\1\ and the exporter Shandong Rongxin Import & 
Export Co., Ltd. (Rongxin). We also conducted a verification of Kaiyuan 
Group Corporation's (Kaiyuan) sales records for the purposes of 
determining whether to rescind this company's review. On May 7, 2003, 
the Department extended the time limit for completion of the final 
results until no later than July 12, 2003. See Certain Cased Pencils 
from the People's Republic of China: Extension of Time Limit for Final 
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 68 FR 24434 (May 7, 
2003). Interested parties submitted case briefs and rebuttal briefs on 
June 5 and June 12, 2003, respectively.
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    \1\ Tianjin Custom Wood Processing Co., Ltd. is wholly-owned by 
California Cedar Products Company (CalCedar). CalCedar is a 
privately held U.S. company incorporated in the State of California. 
Hereinafter we have referred to the entity CalCedar, including its 
subsidiary Tianjin Custom Wood Processing Co., Ltd., as CalCedar-
Tianjin.
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    The Department has conducted this administrative review in 
accordance with section 751 of the Act.

Scope of Review

    Imports covered by this review are shipments of certain cased 
pencils of any shape or dimension which are writing and/or drawing 
instruments that feature cores of graphite or other materials, encased 
in wood and/or man-made materials, whether or not decorated and whether 
or not tipped (e.g., with erasers, etc.) in any fashion, and either 
sharpened or unsharpened. The pencils subject to this order are 
classified under item number 9609.10.00 of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Specifically excluded from the 
scope of this order are mechanical pencils, cosmetic pencils, pens, 
non-cased crayons (wax), pastels, charcoals, chalks, and pencils 
produced under U.S. patent number 6,217,242, from paper infused with 
scents by the means covered in the above-referenced patent, thereby 
having odors distinct from those that may emanate from pencils lacking 
the scent infusion.
    Although the HTSUS item number is provided for convenience and 
customs purposes, our written description of the scope of the order is 
dispositive.

Partial Rescission

    We initiated a review on the following companies: China First 
Pencil Co. Ltd. (CFP), Orient International Holding Shanghai Foreign 
Trade Co., Ltd (SFTC), CalCedar-Tianjin, and Kaiyuan\2\. In the 
Preliminary Results, the Department rescinded the review with respect 
to CFP, SFTC, and preliminarily rescinded the review with respect to 
Kaiyuan.
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    \2\ We initiated the review on Kaiyuan believing that the names 
Kaiyuan and Rongxin, refer to the same company.
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    Subsequent to our initiation of the review, we learned that Kaiyuan 
and Rongxin are different companies which should have been listed 
separately in the initiation notice. Rongxin, which is owned in part by 
Kaiyuan, was the exporter of subject merchandise during the POR, while 
Kaiyuan did not purchase, manufacture or sell subject merchandise 
during the POR. For this reason, we preliminarily rescinded the review 
with respect to Kaiyuan.
    Since the Department's preliminary results of this review, we 
verified Kaiyuan's sales records and established that this company did 
not export subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. 
Therefore, we are rescinding this review with respect to Kaiyuan in 
these final results.

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 Holly A. Kuga, Acting Deputy 
Assistant Secretary, Import Administration, to Jeffrey A. May, Acting 
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, dated July 14, 2003, 
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 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 Record Unit, room B-099 of the main 
Department of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the 
Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the International Trade 
Administration's Web site at www.ia.ita.doc.gov. The paper copy and the 
electronic version of the Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Changes Since the Preliminary Results

    Based on our findings at verification, and our analysis of comments 
received, we made adjustments to the factors of production and 
surrogate values used to calculate margins in the preliminary results. 
We have also corrected certain programming and clerical errors in our 
preliminary results, where applicable. These adjustments are listed 
below and discussed in detail in the Decision Memorandum.
    The Department has determined that South Korea, Thailand, 
Indonesia, and India maintain broadly available, non-industry specific 
export subsidies which may benefit all exporters to all export markets. 
Therefore, for the final results of this review, where applicable, we 
eliminated the quantities and values of imports from these countries 
from the import statistics used to calculate surrogate values. See 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain 
Automotive Replacement Glass Windshields From the People's Republic of 
China, 67 FR 6482 (February 12, 2002) and Final Determination of Sales 
at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From 
the People's Republic of China, 68 FR 10685 (March 6, 2003).

CalCedar-Tianjin

    We adjusted the surrogate value for Chinese lindenwood slats to 
reflect the actual volumes of slat grades CalCedar-Tianjin used in 
production. See Factors of Production Valuation Memorandum dated July 
14, 2003. We also accounted for yield loss based on CalCedar-Tianjin's 
actual loss incurred in cedar slat production. See Decision Memorandum 
at Comment 3. We made minor corrections to the company's data based on 
findings at verification. See CalCedar-Tianjin's Calculation 
Memorandum. We adjusted freight distances for certain material inputs 
in accordance with Department practice resulting from Sigma Corp. V. 
United States, 117 F.3d 1401 (Fed. Cir 1997). Finally, we made 
adjustments to the constructed export prices (CEP) to account for CEP 
profit, imputed credit

[[Page 43084]]

and inventory carrying costs, which were inadvertently omitted from the 
Department's margin calculation in the Preliminary Results. For further 
details, see CalCedar-Tianjin's Calculation Memorandum.

Rongxin

    We adjusted the surrogate value for Chinese lindenwood slats to 
account for yield loss based on Rongxin's actual wood loss incurred 
during pencil production. See Decision Memorandum at Comment 3. We made 
minor corrections to the company's data based on findings at 
verification. See Rongxin's Calculation Memorandum.

Verification

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

Final Results of Review

    We determine that the following weighted-average percentage margins 
exist for the period December 1, 2000 through November 30, 2001:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Margin
                 Exporter/Manufacturer                  [chyph](percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CalCedar-Tianjin......................................             0.00
Rongxin...............................................            15.76
PRC Wide-Rate.........................................           114.90
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cash Deposit Requirements

    The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon 
publication of this notice of final results of administrative review 
for all shipments of pencils from the PRC 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 rates 
for the reviewed companies will be the rates shown above; (2) for 
previously reviewed or investigated companies not listed above, that 
have separate rates, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the 
company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) the 
cash deposit rate for all other PRC exporters will be 114.90 percent; 
and 4) the cash deposit rate for non-PRC exporters will be the rate 
applicable to the PRC supplier of that exporter.
    These deposit requirements shall remain in effect until publication 
of the final results of the next administrative review.

Assessment

    The Department will determine, and the U.S. Bureau of Customs and 
Border Protection (BCBP) will assess, antidumping duties on all entries 
of subject merchandise in accordance with these final results. For 
Rongxin, we have calculated exporter-specific duty assessment rates for 
subject merchandise based on the ratio of the total amount of 
antidumping duties calculated for the examined sales during the POR to 
the total quantity of sales examined during the POR. We calculated 
exporter-specific assessment rates because there was no information on 
the record which identified the importers of record. For CalCedar-
Tianjin, we have calculated an importer-specific duty assessment rate 
based on the ratio of the total amount of antidumping duties calculated 
for the examined sale to the total reported entered value of the sale. 
The Department will issue appropriate assessment instructions directly 
to the BCBP within 15 days of publication of these final results of 
review.

Reimbursement of Duties

    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.

Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice also serves as the only reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective orders (APOs) of their responsibility 
concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information 
disclosed under an APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305 of the 
Department's regulations. Timely written notification of the return/
destruction of APO materials 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 section 751(a)(1) and 771(i) of the Act.

    Dated: July 14, 2003.
Jeffrey A. May,
Acting Assistant Secretary.

Appendix Issues in Decision Memorandum

Comments

Comment 1: Whether the Department Should Value Black Graphite Cores 
Using Eximkey Data or Data From the Monthly Statistics of the Foreign 
Trade of India
Comment 2: Whether the Department Used the Correct Grade of American 
Basswood Lumber to Value Rongxin's Pencil Slats
Comment 3: Whether the Department Properly Accounted for Wood Loss
Comment 4: Whether the Department Should Base Rongxin's Dumping Margin 
on Partial Adverse Facts Available
Comment 5: Ministerial Errors
Comment 6: Whether the Department Overstated CalCedar-Tianjin's Freight 
Costs
[FR Doc. 03-18473 Filed 7-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S