[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 228 (Monday, November 29, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73045-73047]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-29965]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-896]


Magnesium Metal From the People's Republic of China: Rescission 
of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

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


DATES: November 29, 2010.
SUMMARY: On May 28, 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce (``the 
Department'') published a notice of initiation of an administrative 
review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from the 
People's Republic of China (``PRC'').\1\ The review covers one 
manufacturer/exporter of subject merchandise from the PRC, Tianjin 
Magnesium International Co., Ltd. (``TMI''). The period of review 
(``POR'') is April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010. Following the 
receipt of a certification of no shipments from TMI, we notified all 
interested parties of the Department's intent to rescind this review 
and provided an opportunity to comment on the rescission.\2\ We 
received no comments. Therefore, we are rescinding this administrative 
review.
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    \1\ See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Administrative Reviews, 75 FR 29976 (May 28, 2010) (``Initiation'').
    \2\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Magnesium Metal from the 
People's Republic of China: Intent to Rescind the 2009-2010 
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review of Magnesium Metal from the 
People's Republic of China--A-570-896,'' dated November 1, 2010 
(``Intent to Rescind Memorandum'').

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurel LaCivita, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office 8, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
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Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4243.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 73046]]

Background

    On April 1, 2010, the Department published a notice of opportunity 
to request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on 
magnesium metal from the PRC for the period April 1, 2009, through 
March 31, 2010.\3\ On April 30, 2010, U.S. Magnesium LLC (``U.S. 
Magnesium''), a domestic producer and Petitioner in the underlying 
investigation of this case, made a timely request that the Department 
conduct an administrative review of TMI.\4\ On May 28, 2010, in 
accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(``the Act''), the Department published in the Federal Register a 
notice of initiation of this antidumping duty administrative review.\5\ 
On June 28, 2010, TMI submitted a letter to the Department certifying 
that it did not export magnesium metal for consumption in the United 
States during the POR.
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    \3\ See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 
Suspended Investigation; Opportunity To Request Administrative 
Review, 75 FR 16426 (April 1, 2010).
    \4\ See letter from TMI, ``Magnesium Metal from China: Request 
for Administrative Review,'' dated April 30, 2010.
    \5\ See Initiation, 75 FR at 29983.
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    On June 30, 2010, the Department placed on the record information 
obtained in response to the Department's query to U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (``CBP'') concerning imports into the United States 
of subject merchandise during the POR. This data indicates that TMI 
made an entry of merchandise during the POR under the tariff item that 
includes magnesium metal.\6\
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    \6\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Magnesium Metal from the 
People's Republic of China; Transmittal of U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection Information to the File,'' dated June 30, 2010, at 
Attachment I; see also letter from TMI, ``Magnesium Metal from the 
People's Republic of China; A-570-896; Supplemental Information of 
No Sales by Tianjin Magnesium International Co., Ltd,'' dated July 
14, 2010 (``TMI's Supplemental No Shipments Letter''), at 1.
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    On July 14, 2010, TMI explained that it correctly classified the 
merchandise in question using the same Harmonized Tariff System 
(``HTS'') category as magnesium metal.\7\ However, TMI noted that the 
merchandise in question is covered by the scope of the antidumping duty 
order on pure magnesium from the PRC.\8\ Moreover, TMI maintained that 
it reported, and the Department reviewed and verified, the merchandise 
at issue during the 2008-2009 review of pure magnesium from the PRC.\9\
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    \7\ Id. at 3.
    \8\ Id.
    \9\ Id. at 4.
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    On October 19, 2010, the Department placed on the record of this 
review, copies of the entry documents received from CBP.\10\ These 
documents indicate that the merchandise at issue does not consist of 
subject merchandise.\11\ Rather, this merchandise is included in the 
scope of the order or pure magnesium, which states in relevant 
part:\12\

    \10\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Magnesium Metal from the 
People's Republic of China: Release of U.S. Entry Documents from the 
Department's August 17, 2010 Request--A-570-896,'' (``Release of 
Entry Documents'') dated October 19, 2010.
    \11\ See Release of Entry Documents at Attachment I.
    \12\ See Notice of Antidumping Duty Orders: Pure Magnesium From 
the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and Ukraine; 
Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Pure Magnesium From the 
Russian Federation, 60 FR 25691 (May 12, 1995).
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    (3) Products that contain 50% or greater, but less than 99.8% 
primary magnesium, by weight, and that do not conform to ASTM 
specifications for alloy magnesium (generally referred to as ``off-
specification pure'' magnesium).
    ``Off-specification pure'' magnesium is pure primary magnesium 
containing magnesium scrap, secondary magnesium, oxidized magnesium 
or impurities (whether or not intentionally added) that cause the 
primary magnesium content to fall below 99.8% by weight. It 
generally does not contain, individually or in combination, 1.5% or 
more, by weight, of the following alloying elements: aluminum, 
manganese, zinc, silicon, thorium, zirconium and rare earths.
    On November 1, 2010, the Department notified interested parties of 
its intent to rescind this administrative review and gave parties until 
November 8, 2010, to provide comments. We did not receive any comments.

Scope of the Order

    The product covered by this antidumping duty order is magnesium 
metal, which includes primary and secondary alloy magnesium metal, 
regardless of chemistry, raw material source, form, shape, or size. 
Magnesium is a metal or alloy containing by weight primarily the 
element magnesium. Primary magnesium is produced by decomposing raw 
materials into magnesium metal. Secondary magnesium is produced by 
recycling magnesium-based scrap into magnesium metal. The magnesium 
covered by this order includes blends of primary and secondary 
magnesium.
    The subject merchandise includes the following alloy magnesium 
metal products made from primary and/or secondary magnesium including, 
without limitation, magnesium cast into ingots, slabs, rounds, billets, 
and other shapes, and magnesium ground, chipped, crushed, or machined 
into raspings, granules, turnings, chips, powder, briquettes, and other 
shapes: Products that contain 50 percent or greater, but less than 99.8 
percent, magnesium, by weight, and that have been entered into the 
United States as conforming to an ``ASTM Specification for Magnesium 
Alloy'' \13\ and thus are outside the scope of the existing antidumping 
orders on magnesium from the PRC (generally referred to as ``alloy'' 
magnesium).
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    \13\ 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 scope of this order excludes: (1) All forms of pure magnesium, 
including chemical combinations of magnesium and other material(s) in 
which the pure magnesium content is 50 percent or greater, but less 
99.8 percent, by weight, that do not conform to an ``ASTM Specification 
for Magnesium Alloy'' \14\; (2) magnesium that is in liquid or molten 
form; and (3) mixtures containing 90 percent or less magnesium in 
granular or powder form by weight and one or more of certain non-
magnesium granular materials to make magnesium-based reagent mixtures, 
including lime, calcium metal, calcium silicon, calcium carbide, 
calcium carbonate, carbon, slag coagulants, fluorspar, nephaline 
syenite, feldspar, alumina (Al203), calcium aluminate, soda ash, 
hydrocarbons, graphite, coke, silicon, rare earth metals/mischmetal, 
cryolite, silica/fly ash, magnesium oxide, periclase, ferroalloys, 
dolomite lime, and colemanite.\15\
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    \14\ This material is already covered by existing antidumping 
orders. See Notice of Antidumping Duty Orders: Pure Magnesium from 
the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and Ukraine; 
Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Pure Magnesium from the 
Russian Federation, 60 FR 25691 (May 12, 1995); and Antidumping Duty 
Order: Pure Magnesium in Granular Form from the People's Republic of 
China, 66 FR 57936 (Nov. 19, 2001).
    \15\ This third exclusion for magnesium-based reagent mixtures 
is based on the exclusion for reagent mixtures in the 2000-2001 
investigations of magnesium from China, Israel, and Russia. See 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Pure Magnesium 
in Granular Form From the People's Republic of China, 66 FR 49345 
(September 27, 2001); Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Pure Magnesium From Israel, 66 FR 49349 (September 27, 2001); 
Final Determination of Sales at Not Less Than Fair Value: Pure 
Magnesium From the Russian Federation, 66 FR 49347 (September 27, 
2001). These mixtures are not magnesium alloys, because they are not 
chemically combined in liquid form and cast into the same ingot.
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    The merchandise subject to this order is classifiable under items 
8104.19.00, and 8104.30.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States

[[Page 73047]]

(``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS items are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes, the written description of the merchandise is 
dispositive.

Rescission of the Administrative Review

    Based upon the certifications and the evidence on the record, the 
Department finds TMI's claim of no shipments of subject merchandise to 
the United States during the POR to be substantiated. Pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.213(d)(3), the Department may rescind an administrative review, 
in whole or with respect to a particular exporter or producer, if the 
Secretary concludes that, during the period covered by the review, 
there were no entries, exports, or sales of the subject merchandise. 
Therefore, the Department is rescinding this review in accordance with 
19 CFR 351.213(d)(3). The Department intends to instruct CBP fifteen 
days after the publication of this notice to liquidate such entries. 
Antidumping duties shall be assessed at rates equal to the cash deposit 
of estimated antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or 
withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.212(c)(2).
    We are issuing and publishing this notice in accordance with 
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(d)(4).

    Dated: November 19, 2010.
Susan H. Kuhbach,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing 
Duty Operations.
[FR Doc. 2010-29965 Filed 11-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P