[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 248 (Monday, December 28, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80749-80751]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32631]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[C-489-825]


Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes From 
the Republic of Turkey: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Alignment of Final Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily 
determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to 
producers and exporters of heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel 
pipes and tubes (HWR pipes and tubes) from the Republic of Turkey 
(Turkey). The period of investigation is January 1, 2014, through 
December 31, 2014. Interested parties are invited to comment on this 
preliminary determination.

[[Page 80750]]


DATES: Effective Date: December 28, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Smith or Reza Karamloo, Office 
II, AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
1766 or (202) 482-4470, respectively.

Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty (CVD) Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty (AD) Determination

    On the same day the Department initiated this CVD investigation, 
the Department also initiated AD investigations of HWR pipes and tubes 
from the Republic of Korea, Mexico, and Turkey.\1\ The CVD and AD 
investigations cover the same merchandise. On November 23, 2015, in 
accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), the petitioners \2\ requested alignment of the final CVD 
determination of HWR pipes and tubes from Turkey with the final AD 
determination of HWR pipes and tubes from Turkey. Therefore, in 
accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), 
we are aligning the final CVD determination with the final AD 
determination. Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued 
on the same date as the final AD determination, which is currently 
scheduled to be issued no later than May 2, 2016, unless postponed.
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    \1\ See Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and 
Tubes from the Republic of Turkey: Initiation of Countervailing Duty 
Investigation, 80 FR 49207 (August 17, 2015) (Initiation Notice). 
See also Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and 
Tubes From the Republic of Korea, Mexico, and the Republic of 
Turkey: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 80 FR 
49202 (August 17, 2015).
    \2\ The petitioners in this investigation are Atlas Tube, a 
division of JMC Steel Group, Bull Moose Tube Company, EXLTUBE, 
Hannibal Industries, Inc., Independence Tube Corporation, Maruichi 
American Corporation, Searing Industries, Southland Tube, and Vest, 
Inc.
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are HWR pipes and tubes 
from Turkey. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, 
see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    We did not receive any comments concerning the scope of this 
investigation.

Methodology

    The Department is conducting this CVD investigation in accordance 
with section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found 
countervailable, we preliminarily determine that there is a subsidy 
(i.e., a financial contribution by an ``authority'' that gives rise to 
a benefit to the recipient) and that the subsidy is specific.\3\ For a 
full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\4\
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    \3\ See Sections 771(5)(B) and (D) of the Act regarding 
financial contribution; section 771(5)(E) of the Act regarding 
benefit; and section 771(5A) of the Act regarding specificity.
    \4\ See Memorandum from Gary Taverman, Associate Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Operations, to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance, ``Countervailing Duty Investigation of Heavy Walled 
Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes from the Republic of 
Turkey: Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination,'' 
dated concurrently with this notice (Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum).
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    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 (ACCESS). 
ACCESS is available to registered users at http://access.trade.gov, and 
is available to all parties in the Central Records Unit, room B8024 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/index.html. The signed Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum and the electronic version of the Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum are identical in content.

Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 703(d)(1)(A)(i) of the Act, we 
calculated a CVD rate for each individually-investigated producer/
exporter of the subject merchandise. For companies not individually 
investigated, we calculated an ``all-others'' rate as described below. 
We preliminarily determine the countervailable subsidy rates to be:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Subsidy rate
                         Company                             (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MMZ Onur Boru Profil uretim San Ve Tic. A.S.............            7.69
Ozdemir Boru Profil San ve Tic. Ltd Sti.................            1.35
All-Others..............................................            4.39
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In accordance with sections 703(d)(1)(B) and (2) of the Act, we are 
directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of 
all entries of HWR pipes and tubes from Turkey that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of the 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register, and to require a 
cash deposit for such entries of merchandise in the amounts indicated 
above.
    In accordance with sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, for 
companies not investigated, we apply an ``all-others'' rate, which is 
normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the individual 
companies selected as respondents by those companies' exports of the 
subject merchandise to the United States.\5\ The ``all-others'' rate 
does not include zero and de minimis rates or any rates based solely on 
the facts available.
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    \5\ See Memorandum to the File, ``Calculation of the ``All-
Others'' Rate in the Preliminary Determination of the Countervailing 
Duty Investigation of Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Steel 
Pipes and Tubes from the Republic of Turkey'' (December 18, 2015). 
We calculated a weighted average of the rates of MMZ and Ozdemir 
using publicly-ranged data so as not to disclose the respondents' 
business proprietary information.
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Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, we intend to verify 
the information submitted by the respondents prior to making our final 
determination.

U.S. International Trade Commission

    In accordance with section 703(f) of the Act, we will notify the 
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our determination. In 
addition, we are making available to the ITC all non-privileged and 
non-proprietary information relating to this investigation. We will 
allow the ITC access to all privileged and business proprietary 
information in our files, provided the ITC confirms that it will not 
disclose such information, either publicly or under an administrative 
protective order, without the written consent of the Assistant 
Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
    In accordance with section 705(b)(2) of the Act, if our final 
determination is affirmative, the ITC will make its final determination 
within 45 days after the Department makes its final determination.

Disclosure and Public Comment

    The Department intends to disclose to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with this preliminary 
determination within five days of its public announcement.\6\ 
Interested parties may submit case briefs, rebuttal briefs, and hearing 
requests.\7\ For a schedule of the

[[Page 80751]]

deadlines for filing case briefs, rebuttal briefs, and hearing 
requests, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \6\ See 19 CFR 351.224(b).
    \7\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)-(d), 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
703(f) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

    Dated: December 18, 2015.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain heavy 
walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes of rectangular 
(including square) cross section, having a nominal wall thickness of 
not less than 4 mm. The merchandise includes, but is not limited to, 
the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) A-500, grade B 
specifications, or comparable domestic or foreign specifications.
    Included products are those in which: (1) Iron predominates, by 
weight, over each of the other contained elements; (2) the carbon 
content is 2 percent or less, by weight; and (3) none of the 
elements below exceeds the quantity, by weight, respectively 
indicated:
     2.50 percent of manganese, or
     3.30 percent of silicon, or
     1.50 percent of copper, or
     1.50 percent of aluminum, or
     1.25 percent of chromium, or
     0.30 percent of cobalt, or
     0.40 percent of lead, or
     2.0 percent of nickel, or
     0.30 percent of tungsten, or
     0.80 percent of molybdenum, or
     0.10 percent of niobium (also called columbium), or
     0.30 percent of vanadium, or
     0.30 percent of zirconium.
    The subject merchandise is currently provided for in item 
7306.61.1000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS). Subject merchandise may also enter under HTSUS 
7306.61.3000. While the HTSUS subheadings and ASTM specification are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written 
description of the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

    I. Summary
    II. Background
    III. Scope Comments
    IV. Scope of the Investigation
    V. Alignment
    VI. Respondent Selection
    VII. Injury Test
    VIII. Subsidies Valuation
    IX. Analysis of Programs
    X. ITC Notification
    XI. Disclosure and Public Comment
    XII. Verification
    XIII. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2015-32631 Filed 12-24-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P