[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 812-814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-00040]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-549-830]


Welded Stainless Pressure Pipe From Thailand: 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 welded stainless pressure pipe (``WSPP'') from Thailand 
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 April 1, 2012, through March 31, 2013. The estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin of sales at LTFV is shown in the 
``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. Interested 
parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination. 
Pursuant to requests from respondents, we are postponing for 60 days 
the final determination and extending provisional measures from a four-
month period to not more than six months. Accordingly, the final 
determination will be issued not later than 135 days after publication 
of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register.

DATES: Effective Date: January 7, 2014,

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brandon Farlander or Trisha Tran, AD/
CVD Operations, Office IV, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
0182 or (202) 482-4852, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation is circular welded 
austenitic stainless pressure pipe not greater than 14 inches in 
outside diameter. For purposes of this investigation, references to 
size are in nominal inches and include all products within tolerances 
allowed by pipe specifications. This merchandise includes, but is not 
limited to, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) A-312 
or ASTM A-778 specifications, or comparable domestic or foreign 
specifications. ASTM A-358 products are only included when they are 
produced to meet ASTM A-312 or ASTM A-778 specifications, or comparable 
domestic or foreign specifications.
    Excluded from the scope are: (1) Welded stainless mechanical 
tubing, meeting ASTM A-554 or comparable domestic or foreign 
specifications; (2) boiler, heat exchanger, superheater, refining 
furnace, feedwater heater, and condenser tubing, meeting ASTM A-249, 
ASTM A-688 or comparable domestic or foreign specifications; and (3) 
specialized tubing, meeting ASTM A269, ASTM A-270 or comparable 
domestic or foreign specifications.
    The subject imports are normally classified in subheadings 
7306.40.5005, 7306.40.5040, 7306.40.5062, 7306.40.5064, and 
7306.40.5085 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS). They may also enter under HTSUS subheadings 7306.40.1010, 
7306.40.1015, 7306.40.5042, 7306.40.5044, 7306.40.5080, and 
7306.40.5090. The HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and 
customs purposes only; the written description of the scope of these 
investigations is dispositive.

Tolling of Deadlines for Preliminary Determination

    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.\1\ 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 of 
this investigation is now December 30, 2013.
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    \1\ 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).
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Methodology

    The Department has conducted this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Export prices have been calculated in 
accordance with section 772 of the Act. Normal value (``NV'') has been 
calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act.
    For a full description of the methodology underlying our 
conclusions, see ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination of Antidumping Duty Investigation: Welded Stainless 
Pressure

[[Page 813]]

Pipe from Thailand,'' (``Preliminary Decision Memorandum'') from 
Abdelali Elouaradia, Director, Office IV, Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Operations, to Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, dated 
concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this notice. 
The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is made 
available to the public via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (``IA 
ACCESS''). IA ACCESS is available to registered users at https://iaaccess.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Department's 
Central Records Unit, located at room 7046 of the main Department of 
Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum can be found on the Internet at http://www.trade.gov/enforcement/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum 
and the electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are 
identical in content.

Preliminary Determination

    The preliminary weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                    Exporter/manufacturer                       dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ametai Co., Ltd./Thareus Co., Ltd...........................        7.16
Thai-German Products Public Company Limited.................       10.92
All Others..................................................        7.22
------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Others Rate

    The ``All Others'' rate is derived exclusive of all de minimis or 
zero margins and margins based entirely on adverse facts available. 
Specifically, this rate of 7.22 percent is based on a weighted average 
using each company's publicly ranged values for U.S. exports of subject 
merchandise.\2\ Because we cannot apply our normal methodology of 
calculating a weighted-average margin due to requests to protect 
business-proprietary information, we find this rate to be the best 
proxy of the actual weighted-average margin determined for these 
respondents. See, e.g., Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp From India: 
Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, Partial 
Rescission, and Final No Shipment Determination, 76 FR 41205, 41205 
(July 13, 2011).
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    \2\ See Memorandum from Brandon Farlander, International Trade 
Compliance Analyst, AD/CVD Operations, Office IV, to the File, 
``Welded Stainless Steel Pressure Pipe from Thailand: Calculation of 
the Preliminary Margin for the All Other's Rate'' (December 30, 
2013).
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Disclosure and Public Comment

    We will disclose the calculations performed to parties in this 
proceeding within five days of 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 no later than seven 
days after the date on which the final verification report is issued in 
this proceeding, and rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case 
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline 
date for case briefs.\3\ A table of contents, list of authorities used, 
and an executive summary of issues should accompany any briefs 
submitted to the Department. This summary should be limited to five 
pages total, including footnotes. Interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, or to participate if one is requested, must submit a 
written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce. All documents must be filed 
electronically using IA ACCESS. An electronically filed document must 
be received successfully in its entirety by the Department's electronic 
records system, IA ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, within 
30 days after the date of publication of this notice.\4\ Requests 
should contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the 
number of participants, and a list of the issues to be discussed. 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 location 
to be determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, 
and location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.
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    \3\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
    \4\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    Pursuant to requests from respondents, we are postponing the final 
determination and extending the provisional measures from a four-month 
period to not more than six months. Accordingly, we will make 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.\5\
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    \5\ See also 19 CFR 351.210(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 WSPP from Thailand as, described in the scope of the 
investigation section entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.
    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.205(d), we will instruct CBP to require a 
cash deposit \6\ equal to the weighted-average amount by which the NV 
exceeds Export price, as indicated in the chart above. This suspension 
of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.
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    \6\ 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. 
Because the preliminary determination in this proceeding is 
affirmative, section 735(b)(2) of the Act requires that the ITC make 
its final determination as to whether the domestic industry in the 
United States is materially injured, or threatened with material 
injury, by reason of imports of WSPP from Thailand before the later of 
120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days 
after our final determination. Because we are postponing the deadline 
for our final determination to 135 days from the date of the 
publication of this preliminary determination, as discussed above, the 
ITC will make its final determination no later than 45 days after our 
final determination.
    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 30, 2013.
Christian Marsh,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations.

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

1. Postponement of Preliminary Determination
2. Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures
3. Scope of the Investigation

[[Page 814]]

4. Scope Comments
5. Affiliation and Single Entity
6. Fair Value Comparisons
7. Product Comparisons
8. Determination of Comparison Method
9. Export Price
10. Normal Value
    a. Home Market Viability
    b. Affiliated Party Transactions and Arm's-Length Test
    c. Level of Trade
    d. Calculation of Normal Value Based on Home Market Prices
    e. Cost of Production
    i. Calculation of COP
    ii. Test of Comparison Market Sales Prices
    iii. Results of COP Test
    f. Price-to-CV Comparison
    g. Constructed Value
11. Currency Conversion
12. Verification

[FR Doc. 2014-00040 Filed 1-6-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P