[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 34 (Monday, February 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8682-8684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03627]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-602-808]


Silicomanganese From Australia: Final Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value

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


[[Page 8683]]


SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') determines 
that imports of silicomanganese from Australia are being sold in the 
United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), as provided in 
section 735 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the ``Act''). The 
final weighted-average dumping margins of sales at LTFV are listed 
below in the section entitled ``Final Determination Margins.''

DATES: Effective: February 22, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Magd Zalok or Robert Bolling, 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-
4162 or (202) 482-3434, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 25, 2015, the Department published in the Federal 
Register the preliminary determination in the LTFV investigation of 
silicomanganese from Australia.\1\ In the Preliminary Determination, we 
postponed the final determination until no later than 135 days after 
the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination in accordance 
with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii) and 
invited parties to comment on our Preliminary Determination. Moreover, 
as explained in the memorandum from the Acting Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement & Compliance, the Department has exercised its discretion 
to toll all administrative deadlines due to the recent closure of the 
Federal Government. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding 
have been extended by four business days. The revised deadline for the 
final determination of this investigation is now February 12, 2016.\2\
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    \1\ See Silicomanganese From Australia: Preliminary Affirmative 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of 
Final Determination, 80 FR 57787, (September 25, 2015) (Preliminary 
Determination).
    \2\ See Memorandum to the Record from Ron Lorentzen, Acting A/S 
for Enforcement & Compliance, regarding ``Tolling of Administrative 
Deadlines As a Result of the Government Closure During Snowstorm 
Jonas,'' dated January 27, 2016.
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    The following events have occurred since the Preliminary 
Determination. Between September 28, 2015, and November 11, 2015, the 
Department conducted sales and cost verifications of the respondent in 
this investigation, Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company Pty Ltd. 
(``TEMCO'') and its U.S. affiliate BHP Billiton Marketing Inc. On 
October 26, 2015, Felman Production, LLC (``Petitioners'') requested a 
hearing. On December 16, 2015, TEMCO and the Petitioners submitted case 
briefs. On December 21, 2015, TEMCO and the Petitioners submitted 
rebuttal case briefs. On January 11, 2016, the Department held a 
hearing in this investigation.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (``POI'') is January 1, 2014, through 
December 31, 2014.

Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is silicomanganese from 
Australia. For a full description of the scope of the investigation, 
see Appendix I to this notice.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.307(b)(1)(i), from September 28, 2015 through November 11, 2015, we 
verified the sales and cost information submitted by TEMCO for use in 
our final determination. We used standard verification procedures 
including an examination of relevant accounting and production records, 
and original source documents provided by TEMCO.\3\
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    \3\ See Memorandum to the File from Robert B. Greger, Senior 
Accountant, through Taija A. Slaughter, Lead Accountant, and Neal 
Halper, Office Director, regarding ``Verification of Tasmanian 
Electro Metallurgical Company Pty Ltd. in the Antidumping Duty 
Investigation of Silicomanganese from Australia'' (October 28, 
2015); see also Memorandum to the File from Magd Zalok and Lilit 
Astvatsatrian, Enforcement & Compliance, Office IV, and David 
Richardson, Office of the Chief Counsel for Enforcement & 
Compliance, through Robert Bolling, Program Manager, Enforcement & 
Compliance, Office IV, regarding ``Verification of the Sales 
Questionnaire Responses of Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company 
Pty Ltd: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Silicomanganese from 
Australia'' (December 3, 2015); see also Memorandum to the File from 
Magd Zalok and Lilit Astvatsatrian, Enforcement & Compliance, Office 
IV, through Robert Bolling, Program Manager, Enforcement & 
Compliance, Office IV, regarding ``Verification of the Sales 
Questionnaire Responses of BHP Billiton Marketing Inc.: Antidumping 
Duty Investigation of Silicomanganese from Australia,'' (December 
10, 2015).
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Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in 
this investigation are addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum 
accompanying this notice, and which is hereby adopted by this 
notice.\4\ A list of the issues raised to which the Department 
responded is attached to this notice as Appendix II. The Issues and 
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. The memorandum is 
available to all parties in the Central Records Unit, located at Room 
B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a 
complete version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed 
directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed and 
electronic versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical 
in content.
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    \4\ See Silicomanganese from Australia: Issues and Decision 
Memorandum for the Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value (``Issues and Decision Memorandum'').
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Changes to the Margin Calculation Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on a review of the record and comments received from 
interested parties regarding our Preliminary Determination, we made the 
following changes to TEMCO's margin calculation:
     We recalculated TEMCO's indirect selling expenses 
(``ISE'') incurred in the United States based on verification findings;
     We recalculated indirect selling expenses incurred in the 
country of manufacture to reflect minor corrections and verification 
findings in the calculation of the indirect selling expense ratio;
     We eliminated from the U.S. and home market sales 
databases the loading charges reported under the fields DLOADU and 
LOADH, because these charges were double counted in that they were also 
reported under the fields PACK2H and PACKU;
     We corrected the CEP profit ratio due to a programing 
error in the Department's margin calculation program from the 
Preliminary Determination.
     We adjusted the by-product offset for silicomanganese 
fines generated during production to reflect the POI per-unit sales 
value.
     We adjusted the reported financial expense ratio to 
exclude interest income from long-term sources.

Final Determination Margins

    The Department determines that the following weighted-average 
dumping margins exist for the period January 1, 2014, through December 
31, 2014:

[[Page 8684]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                    Exporter or producer                        dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company Pty Ltd.............       12.03
All-Others..................................................       12.03
------------------------------------------------------------------------

All-Others Rate

    Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provides that the estimated all-
others rate shall be an amount equal to the weighted-average of the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters 
and producers individually investigated excluding any zero or de 
minimis margins, and margins determined entirely under section 776 of 
the Act. In this investigation, we calculated a weighted-average 
dumping margin for TEMCO, the only respondent in this investigation, 
that is above de minimis and which is not based on section 776 of the 
Act. Therefore, the Department assigned a margin to the all-others rate 
companies based on TEMCO's weighted-average dumping margin.

Disclosure

    We will disclose the calculations performed within five days of the 
date of any public announcement of this notice to parties in this 
proceeding in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Suspension of Liquidation

    Pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, the Department will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all of entries of silicomanganese from 
Australia, which were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after September 25, 2015, the date of publication of 
the Preliminary Determination. Further, pursuant to CFR 351.210(d), the 
Department will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the 
amount by which normal value exceeds U.S. price as follows: (1) For 
TEMCO, the mandatory respondent listed above, the cash deposit rate 
will be equal to the dumping margin which the Department determined in 
this final determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory 
respondent identified in this investigation, but the producer is, the 
cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the producer of the 
subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rates for all other 
producers or exporters will be 12.03 percent. The suspension of 
liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we notified the U.S. 
International Trade Commission (``ITC'') of our final determination. As 
our final determination is affirmative, in accordance with section 
735(b)(2) of the Act, the ITC will determine within 45 days whether the 
domestic industry in the United States is materially injured, or 
threatened with material injury, by reason of imports or sales (or the 
likelihood of sales) for importation of the subject merchandise. If the 
ITC determines that such injury exists, the Department will issue an 
antidumping duty order directing CBP to assess, upon further 
instruction by the Department, antidumping duties on appropriate 
imports of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective date of the 
suspension of liquidation.

Return or Destruction of Proprietary Information

    This notice will serve as a reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (``APO'') of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written 
notification of the destruction of APO materials or conversion to 
judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with 
the regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

Notification to Interested Parties

    We are issuing and publishing this determination and notice in 
accordance with sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: February 12, 2016.
Paul Piquado,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of this investigation covers all forms, sizes and 
compositions of silicomanganese, except low-carbon silicomanganese, 
including silicomanganese briquettes, fines, and slag. 
Silicomanganese is properly classifiable under subheading 
7202.30.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(``HTSUS''). Low-carbon silicomanganese is excluded from the scope 
of this investigation. Low-carbon silicomanganese is classifiable 
under HTSUS subheading 7202.30.0000. The HTSUS subheadings are 
provided for convenience and customs purposes. The written 
description of the scope is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Discussion of the Issues
    Issues:
    Comment 1: Indirect Selling Expenses Incurred in the United 
States
    Comment 2: Constructed Export Price Offset (``CEP Offset'')
    Comment 3: CEP Profit Ratio
    Comment 4: Double Counting of Packing/Loading Expenses
    Comment 5: Valuation of Ferromanganese Slag
    Comment 6: Inputs Purchased From Interested Parties
    Comment 7: Interest Income
V. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2016-03627 Filed 2-19-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P