[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 239 (Thursday, December 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75545-75547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29690]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-990]


Prestressed Concrete Steel Rail Tie Wire From the People's 
Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value and Postponement of Final Determination

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, formerly Import Administration, 
International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``Department'') preliminarily 
determines that prestressed concrete steel rail tie wire (``PC tie 
wire'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') is being, or is 
likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value 
(``LTFV''), as provided in section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended (``the Act''). The period of investigation (``POI'') is October 
1, 2012, through March 31, 2013. The weighted-average dumping margins 
are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. 
The final determination will be issued 135 days after the publication 
date of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register.

DATES: Effective Date: December 12, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Smith or Stephanie Arthur, AD/
CVD Operations, Office II, Enforcement

[[Page 75546]]

and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-1766 and (202) 482-2181, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is high carbon steel 
wire; stress relieved or low relaxation; indented or otherwise 
deformed; meeting at a minimum the physical, mechanical, and chemical 
requirements of the American Society of Testing Materials (``ASTM'') 
A881/A881M specification; regardless of shape, size or alloy element 
levels; suitable for use as prestressed tendons in concrete railroad 
ties (``PC tie wire''). High carbon steel is defined as steel that 
contains 0.6 percent or more of carbon by weight.
    PC tie wire is classified under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (``HTSUS'') subheading 7217.10.8045, but may also be 
classified under subheadings 7217.10.7000, 7217.10.8025, 7217.10.8030, 
7217.10.8090, 7217.10.9000, 7229.90.1000, 7229.90.5016, 7229.90.5031, 
7229.90.5051, 7229.90.9000, and 7312.10.3012. Although the HTSUS 
subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, the 
written description of the scope of the investigation is 
dispositive.\1\
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    \1\ Since the initiation of this investigation, based on 
interested party comments, we modified the scope to add language to, 
and clarify the meaning of, the phrase ``meeting at a minimum the 
American Society for Testing Materials (``ASTM'') A881/A881M 
specification,'' and to include two additional HTSUS numbers. For 
further discussion, see the memorandum entitled ``Scope Modification 
Requests,'' dated concurrently with this determination.
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Methodology

    The Department has conducted this antidumping duty investigation in 
accordance with section 731 of the Act. Export prices (``EPs'') have 
been calculated in accordance with section 772 of the Act. Because the 
PRC is a non-market economy within the meaning of section 771(18) of 
the Act, normal value has been calculated in accordance with section 
773(c) of the Act. Specifically, unless specified otherwise, the 
factors of production (``FOPs'') for the respondent, Silvery Dragon 
Group Technology and Trading Co., Ltd. Tianjin (``Silvery Dragon 
Tech'') have been valued using data from the primary surrogate country, 
Thailand, a country comparable economically to the PRC and a 
significant producer of comparable merchandise.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Prestressed 
Concrete Steel Rail Tie Wire from the People's Republic of China,'' 
from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Operations, to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary 
for Enforcement and Compliance, dated concurrently with this notice 
(``Preliminary Decision Memorandum'') and hereby adopted by this 
notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is 
on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (``IA 
ACCESS''). IA ACCESS is available to registered users at http://iaaccess.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central 
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In 
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can 
be accessed directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn. The signed 
and electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.

Combination Rates

    In the Initiation Notice, the Department stated that it would 
calculate combination rates for the respondents that are eligible for a 
separate rate in this investigation.\2\ This practice is described in 
Policy Bulletin 05.1.\3\
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    \2\ See Prestressed Concrete Steel Rail Tie Wire From Mexico, 
The People's Republic of China, and Thailand: Initiation of 
Antidumping Duty Investigations, 78 FR 29325, 29330 (May 20, 2013) 
(``Initiation Notice'').
    \3\ See Policy Bulletin No. 05.1, regarding ``Separate-Rates 
Practice and Application of Combination Rates in Antidumping 
Investigations involving Non-Market Economy Countries'' (April 5, 
2005) (``Policy Bulletin 05.1''), available at http://enforcement.trade.gov/policy/bull05-1.pdf.
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Preliminary Determination \4\
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    \4\ As explained in the memorandum from the Assistant Secretary 
for Enforcement and Compliance, the Department has exercised its 
discretion to toll deadlines for the duration of the closure of the 
Federal Government from October 1, through October 16, 2013. See 
Memorandum for the Record from Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, ``Deadlines Affected by the Shutdown of 
the Federal Government'' (October 18, 2013). Therefore, all 
deadlines in this segment of the proceeding have been extended by 16 
days. If the new deadline falls on a non-business day, in accordance 
with the Department's practice, the deadline will become the next 
business day. The revised deadline for the preliminary determination 
in this investigation is now December 5, 2013.
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    The Department preliminarily determines that the following 
weighted-average dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Weighted-
                                                               average
             Exporter                      Producer            dumping
                                                                margin
                                                              (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silvery Dragon Group Technology    Silvery Dragon                  14.64
 and Trading Co., Ltd. Tianjin.     Prestressed Materials
                                    Co., Ltd. Tianjin.
PRC-wide Entity*.................  ........................        18.02
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* The PRC-wide entity includes Wuxi Jinyang Metal Products Co., Ltd. and
  Shanxi New-Mile International Trade Co., Ltd.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department intends to disclose calculations performed for this 
preliminary determination to the parties within five days after the 
date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b). Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to 
the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance via IA ACCESS no 
later than seven days after the date on which the verification report 
is issued in this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues 
raised in case briefs, must be submitted via IA ACCESS no later than 
five days after the deadline for filing case briefs.\5\ Pursuant to 19 
CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), parties who submit case briefs or 
rebuttal briefs in this proceeding are encouraged to submit with each 
argument: (1)A statement of the issue; (2) a brief summary of the 
argument; and (3) a table of authorities.
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    \5\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a

[[Page 75547]]

hearing, or to participate in a hearing if one is requested, must 
submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance. An electronically filed request must be received 
successfully in its entirety by IA ACCESS by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard 
Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.\6\ 
Hearing requests should contain: (1) The party's name, address, and 
telephone number; (2) the number of participants in the hearing; and 
(3) a list of the issues to be discussed at the hearing. If a request 
for a hearing is made, the Department intends to hold the hearing at 
the U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230, at a time and date to be determined.\7\ 
Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and location of the 
hearing, two days before the scheduled date.
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    \6\ See also 19 CFR 351.310(c).
    \7\ See id.
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Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    Pursuant to a request from the respondent in this investigation, we 
are postponing the final determination and extending the provisional 
measures from a four-month period to a period not greater than six 
months. Accordingly, we will issue our final determination no later 
than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary 
determination, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.\8\
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    \8\ See also 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2) and (e).
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Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we are directing 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to suspend liquidation of 
all entries of PC tie wire from the PRC, as described in the scope of 
the investigation section of this notice, which are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    We will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit \9\ equal to the 
weighted-average amount by which the NV exceeds EP, as indicated in the 
chart above. These suspension of liquidation instructions will remain 
in effect until further notice.
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    \9\ See Modification of Regulations Regarding the Practice of 
Accepting Bonds During the Provisional Measures Period in 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations, 76 FR 61042 
(October 3, 2011).
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International Trade Commission (``ITC'') Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the 
ITC of our preliminary affirmative determination of sales at LTFV. If 
our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before 
the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination 
or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are 
materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.
    This determination is issued and published in accordance with 
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: December 5, 2013.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

1. Respondent Selection
2. Discussion of the Methodology
    a. Non-Market Economy Country
    b. Surrogate Country
    c. Separate Rates
    d. Application of Facts Available and Adverse Inferences
    e. Date of Sale
    f. Fair Value Comparisons
    g. Factor Valuation Methodology
    h. Currency Conversion
3. Verification

[FR Doc. 2013-29690 Filed 12-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P