[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 156 (Friday, August 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53421-53424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19371]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[International Trade Administration
[A-421-813]


Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products From the Netherlands: 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Negative Final 
Determination of Critical Circumstances

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


[[Page 53422]]


SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that 
imports of certain hot-rolled steel flat products (hot-rolled steel) 
from the Netherlands are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United 
States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation 
(POI) is July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015. The final dumping margins 
of sales at LTFV are listed in the ``Final Determination'' section of 
this notice.

DATES: Effective August 12, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dmitry Vladimirov, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0665.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 22, 2016, the Department published the Preliminary 
Determination of this antidumping duty (AD) investigation.\1\ The 
following events occurred since the Preliminary Determination was 
issued. In June 2016, AK Steel Corporation (one of the petitioners) \2\ 
and Tata Steel IJmuiden B.V. (TSIJ) submitted case briefs \3\ and 
rebuttal briefs.\4\ A hearing was held on June 24, 2016.
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    \1\ See Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the 
Netherlands: Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less 
Than Fair Value, Postponement of Final Determination and Extension 
of Provisional Measures, 81 FR 15225 (March 22, 2016) (Preliminary 
Determination).
    \2\ AK Steel Corporation (AK Steel), ArcelorMittal USA LLC, 
Nucor Corporation, SSAB Enterprises, LLC, Steel Dynamics, Inc., and 
United States Steel Corporation (collectively, the petitioners).
    \3\ See Letter from AK Steel Corporation, ``Certain Hot-Rolled 
Steel Flat Products From The Netherlands: Petitioner's Case Brief'' 
(June 9, 2016); and Letter from TSIJ, ``Certain Hot-Rolled Steel 
Flat Products From The Netherlands: Case Brief of Tata Steel 
IJmuiden BV'' (June 9, 2016).
    \4\ See Letter from AK Steel Corporation ``Certain Hot-Rolled 
Steel Flat Products From The Netherlands: Petitioner's Rebuttal 
Brief'' (June 20, 2016).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain hot-rolled 
steel flat products from the Netherlands. For a complete description of 
the scope of this investigation, see the ``Scope of the 
Investigation,'' in Appendix I of this notice.

Scope Comments

    In the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum,\5\ the Department set 
aside a period of time for parties to address scope issues in case 
briefs or other written comments on scope issues. In the Preliminary 
Determination, we did not modify the scope language as it appeared in 
the Initiation Notice.\6\ No interested parties submitted scope 
comments in case or rebuttal briefs; therefore, the scope of this 
investigation remains unchanged for this final determination.
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    \5\ See Memorandum to Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Operations, 
``Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Products From Australia, Brazil, Japan, 
the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and the United 
Kingdom: Scope Comments Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determinations'' dated March 14, 2016 (Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum).
    \6\ See Preliminary Determination and accompanying Memorandum 
from Christian Marsh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duty Operations, to Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary 
for Enforcement and Compliance, entitled ``Decision Memorandum for 
the Preliminary Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigation of Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the 
Netherlands'' at page 4. See also Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat 
Products From Australia, Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the 
Netherlands, The Republic of Turkey, and the United Kingdom: 
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 80 FR 54261, 
54262 (September 9, 2015) (Initiation Notice).
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Analysis of the Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties in 
this investigation are addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, 
which is hereby adopted by this notice.\7\ A list of the issues raised 
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 https://access.trade.gov and it is available to all 
parties in the Central Records Unit, room B-8024 of the main Department 
of Commerce building. In addition, a complete version of the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly on the Internet at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and electronic 
versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical in 
content.
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    \7\ See Memorandum from Deputy Assistant Secretary Christian 
Marsh to Acting Assistant Secretary Ronald K. Lorentzen entitled, 
``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Final Affirmative 
Determination in the Less than Fair Value Investigation of Certain 
Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from the Netherlands,'' dated 
concurrently with this notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
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Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), in March and April 2016, the Department verified the sales 
and cost data reported by the mandatory respondent. We used standard 
verification procedures, including an examination of relevant 
accounting and production records, and original source documents 
provided by TSIJ.\8\
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    \8\ See Memorandum to the File entitled ``Verification of the 
Sales Response of Tata Steel IJmuiden B.V. in the Less-Than-Fair-
Value Investigation of Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products from 
the Netherlands,'' dated April 13, 2016, and Memorandum to the File 
entitled ``Verification of the Cost Response of Tata Steel IJmuiden 
BV in the Investigation of Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products 
from the Netherlands,'' dated June 1, 2016.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of the comments received, pre-verification 
corrections, and our findings at verification, we made certain changes 
to the margin calculations for TSIJ. For a discussion of these changes, 
see the ``Margin Calculations'' and ``Comparisons to Fair Value'' 
sections of the Issues and Decision Memorandum. We have also revised 
the all-others rate

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. The Department calculated a company-specific rate for TSIJ 
that is not zero, de minimis or determined entirely under section 776 
of the Act. Therefore, for purposes of determining the ``all-others'' 
rate and pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are using the 
weighted-average dumping margin calculated for TSIJ as the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margin assigned to all other producers and 
exporters of the merchandise under consideration.

Final Determination

    The Department determines that the final weighted-average dumping 
margins are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/Producer                         margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tata Steel IJmuiden B.V.....................................        3.73
All-Others..................................................        3.73
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances

    On December 9, 2015, the Department preliminarily found that 
critical

[[Page 53423]]

circumstances do not exist for imports of hot-rolled steel from the 
Netherlands.\9\ Based on the final dumping margin we established for 
TSIJ and ``all others,'' we are not modifying our preliminary finding 
for the final determination. For a complete discussion of this issue, 
see the ``Critical Circumstances'' section of the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum.
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    \9\ See Antidumping Duty Investigations of Certain Hot-Rolled 
Steel Flat Products From Australia, Brazil, Japan, and the 
Netherlands and Countervailing Duty Investigation of Certain Hot-
Rolled Steel Flat Products From Brazil: Preliminary Determinations 
of Critical Circumstances, 80 FR 76444, 76446-47 (December 9, 2015).
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Disclosure

    We intend to disclose the calculations performed to interested 
parties within five days after the public announcement of this final 
determination in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with 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 entries of hot-rolled steel from the 
Netherlands, as described in Appendix I of this notice, which were 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after March 
22, 2016, the date of publication of the Preliminary Determination of 
this investigation in the Federal Register.
    Further, pursuant to section 735(c)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act, CBP shall 
require a cash deposit equal to the estimated amount by which normal 
value exceeds U.S. price, as follows: (1) For the exporter/producer 
listed in the table above, the cash deposit rate will be equal to the 
weighted-average dumping margin which the Department determined in this 
final determination; the cash deposit rate for the mandatory respondent 
listed above will be equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping 
margin determined in this final determination; (2) if the exporter is 
not a firm identified in this investigation but the producer is, then 
the cash deposit rate will be equal to the estimated weighted-average 
dumping margin established for the producer of the subject merchandise; 
(3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers or exporters will be 
3.73 percent, as discussed in the ``All Others Rate'' section, above. 
These instructions suspending liquidation will remain in effect until 
further notice.

U.S. International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of the final affirmative 
determination of sales at LTFV. Because the final determination in this 
proceeding is affirmative, in accordance with section 735(b)(2) of the 
Act, the ITC will 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 hot-rolled 
steel from the Netherlands no later than 45 days after our final 
determination. If the ITC determines that material injury or threat of 
material injury does exist, the Department will issue an antidumping 
duty order directing CBP to assess, upon further instruction by the 
Department, antidumping duties on all imports of the subject 
merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after the effective date of the suspension of liquidation, as discussed 
above in the ``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation'' section. If 
the ITC determines that material injury or threat of material injury 
does not exist, the proceeding will be terminated and all cash deposits 
will be refunded.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders

    This notice serves as a reminder to parties subject to an 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305. Timely 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 subject to sanction.
    This determination is issued and published pursuant to sections 
735(d) and 777(i)(l) of the Act.

    Dated: August 4, 2016.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are certain hot-
rolled, flat-rolled steel products, with or without patterns in 
relief, and whether or not annealed, painted, varnished, or coated 
with plastics or other non-metallic substances. The products covered 
do not include those that are clad, plated, or coated with metal. 
The products covered include coils that have a width or other 
lateral measurement (``width'') of 12.7 mm or greater, regardless of 
thickness, and regardless of form of coil (e.g., in successively 
superimposed layers, spirally oscillating, etc.). The products 
covered also include products not in coils (e.g., in straight 
lengths) of a thickness of less than 4.75 mm and a width that is 
12.7 mm or greater and that measures at least 10 times the 
thickness. The products described above may be rectangular, square, 
circular, or other shape and include products of either rectangular 
or non-rectangular cross-section where such cross-section is achieve 
subsequent to the rolling process, i.e., products which have been 
``worked after rolling'' (e.g., products which have been beveled or 
rounded at the edges). For purposes of the width and thickness 
requirements referenced above:
    (1) Where the nominal and actual measurements vary, a product is 
within the scope if application of either the nominal or actual 
measurement would place it within the scope based on the definitions 
set forth above unless the resulting measurement makes the product 
covered by the existing antidumping \10\ or countervailing duty \11\ 
orders on Certain Cut-To-Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate Products 
From the Republic of Korea (A-580-836; C-580-837), and
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    \10\ Notice of Amendment of Final Determinations of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Orders: Certain Cut-To-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate Products From France, India, 
Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the Republic of Korea, 65 FR 6585 
(February 10, 2000).
    \11\ Notice of Amended Final Determinations: Certain Cut-to-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate From India and the Republic of 
Korea; and Notice of Countervailing Duty Orders: Certain Cut-To-
Length Carbon-Quality Steel Plate From France, India, Indonesia, 
Italy, and the Republic of Korea, 65 FR 6587 (February 10, 2000).
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    (2) where the width and thickness vary for a specific product 
(e.g., the thickness of certain products with non-rectangular cross-
section, the width of certain products with non-rectangular shape, 
etc.), the measurement at its greatest width or thickness applies.
    Steel products included in the scope of this investigation are 
products 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 listed 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
     2.00 percent of nickel, or
     0.30 percent of tungsten, or
     0.80 percent of molybdenum, or
     0.10 percent of niobium, or
     0.30 percent of vanadium, or
     0.30 percent of zirconium.
    Unless specifically excluded, products are included in this 
scope regardless of levels of boron and titanium.
    For example, specifically included in this scope are vacuum 
degassed, fully stabilized

[[Page 53424]]

(commonly referred to as interstitial-free (IF)) steels, high 
strength low alloy (HSLA) steels, the substrate for motor lamination 
steels, Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS), and Ultra High 
Strength Steels (UHSS). IF steels are recognized as low carbon 
steels with micro-alloying levels of elements such as titanium and/
or niobium added to stabilize carbon and nitrogen elements. HSLA 
steels are recognized as steels with micro-alloying levels of 
elements such as chromium, copper, niobium, titanium, vanadium, and 
molybdenum. The substrate for motor lamination steels contains 
micro-alloying levels of elements such as silicon and aluminum. AHSS 
and UHSS are considered high tensile strength and high elongation 
steels, although AHSS and UHSS are covered whether or not they are 
high tensile strength or high elongation steels.
    Subject merchandise includes hot-rolled steel that has been 
further processed in a third country, including but not limited to 
pickling, oiling, levelling, annealing, tempering, temper rolling, 
skin passing, painting, varnishing, trimming, cutting, punching, 
and/or slitting, or any other processing that would not otherwise 
remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigation if 
performed in the country of manufacture of the hot-rolled steel.
    All products that meet the written physical description, and in 
which the chemistry quantities do not exceed any one of the noted 
element levels listed above, are within the scope of this 
investigation unless specifically excluded. The following products 
are outside of and/or specifically excluded from the scope of this 
investigation:
     Universal mill plates (i.e., hot-rolled, flat-rolled 
products not in coils that have been rolled on four faces or in a 
closed box pass, of a width exceeding 150 mm but not exceeding 1250 
mm, of a thickness not less than 4.0 mm, and without patterns in 
relief);
     Products that have been cold-rolled (cold-reduced) 
after hot-rolling; \12\
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    \12\ For purposes of this scope exclusion, rolling operations 
such as a skin pass, levelling, temper rolling or other minor 
rolling operations after the hot-rolling process for purposes of 
surface finish, flatness, shape control, or gauge control do not 
constitute cold-rolling sufficient to meet this exclusion.
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     Ball bearing steels; \13\
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    \13\ Ball bearing steels are defined as steels which contain, in 
addition to iron, each of the following elements by weight in the 
amount specified: (i) Not less than 0.95 nor more than 1.13 percent 
of carbon; (ii) not less than 0.22 nor more than 0.48 percent of 
manganese; (iii) none, or not more than 0.03 percent of sulfur; (iv) 
none, or not more than 0.03 percent of phosphorus; (v) not less than 
0.18 nor more than 0.37 percent of silicon; (vi) not less than 1.25 
nor more than 1.65 percent of chromium; (vii) none, or not more than 
0.28 percent of nickel; (viii) none, or not more than 0.38 percent 
of copper; and (ix) none, or not more than 0.09 percent of 
molybdenum.
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     Tool steels; \14\ and
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    \14\ Tool steels are defined as steels which contain the 
following combinations of elements in the quantity by weight 
respectively indicated: (i) More than 1.2 percent carbon and more 
than 10.5 percent chromium; or (ii) not less than 0.3 percent carbon 
and 1.25 percent or more but less than 10.5 percent chromium; or 
(iii) not less than 0.85 percent carbon and 1 percent to 1.8 
percent, inclusive, manganese; or (iv) 0.9 percent to 1.2 percent, 
inclusive, chromium and 0.9 percent to 1.4 percent, inclusive, 
molybdenum; or (v) not less than 0.5 percent carbon and not less 
than 3.5 percent molybdenum; or (vi) not less than 0.5 percent 
carbon and not less than 5.5 percent tungsten.
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     Silico-manganese steels; \15\
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    \15\ Silico-manganese steel is defined as steels containing by 
weight: (i) Not more than 0.7 percent of carbon; (ii) 0.5 percent or 
more but not more than 1.9 percent of manganese, and (iii) 0.6 
percent or more but not more than 2.3 percent of silicon.
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    The products subject to this investigation are currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under item numbers: 7208.10.1500, 7208.10.3000, 
7208.10.6000, 7208.25.3000, 7208.25.6000, 7208.26.0030, 
7208.26.0060, 7208.27.0030, 7208.27.0060, 7208.36.0030, 
7208.36.0060, 7208.37.0030, 7208.37.0060, 7208.38.0015, 
7208.38.0030, 7208.38.0090, 7208.39.0015, 7208.39.0030, 
7208.39.0090, 7208.40.6030, 7208.40.6060, 7208.53.0000, 
7208.54.0000, 7208.90.0000, 7210.70.3000, 7211.14.0030, 
7211.14.0090, 7211.19.1500, 7211.19.2000, 7211.19.3000, 
7211.19.4500, 7211.19.6000, 7211.19.7530, 7211.19.7560, 
7211.19.7590, 7225.11.0000, 7225.19.0000, 7225.30.3050, 
7225.30.7000, 7225.40.7000, 7225.99.0090, 7226.11.1000, 
7226.11.9030, 7226.11.9060, 7226.19.1000, 7226.19.9000, 
7226.91.5000, 7226.91.7000, and 7226.91.8000. The products subject 
to the investigation may also enter under the following HTSUS 
numbers: 7210.90.9000, 7211.90.0000, 7212.40.1000, 7212.40.5000, 
7212.50.0000, 7214.91.0015, 7214.91.0060, 7214.91.0090, 
7214.99.0060, 7214.99.0075, 7214.99.0090, 7215.90.5000, 
7226.99.0180, and 7228.60.6000.
    The HTSUS subheadings above are provided for convenience and 
U.S. Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of 
the investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Critical Circumstances
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Margin Calculations
VI. Comparisons to Fair Value
VII. Discussion of the Issues
    Comment 1: Purchases of Raw Material Inputs
    Comment 2: G&A Expenses Ratio
    Comment 3: TSIJ's B-Slab Adjustment to Cost of Manufacturing
VIII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2016-19371 Filed 8-11-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P