[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 7, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12796-12798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-04415]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-588-876]


Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar From Japan: Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily 
determines that steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from Japan is 
being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair 
value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is July 1, 2015, 
through June 30, 2016. The estimated dumping margins of sales at LTFV 
are listed in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. 
Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination.

DATES: Effective March 7, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Lindgren, AD/CVD Operations, 
Office VII, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3870.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The Department 
published the notice of initiation of this investigation on October 18, 
2016.\1\ For a complete

[[Page 12797]]

description of the events that followed the initiation of this 
investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, dated 
concurrently with this determination and hereby adopted by this 
notice.\2\ A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum is included as Appendix II to 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 (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 
registered users at https://access.trade.gov, and 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/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the electronic 
version are identical in content.
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    \1\ See Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar From Japan, Taiwan and 
the Republic of Turkey: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair Value 
Investigations, 81 FR 71697 (October 18, 2016) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Steel 
Concrete Reinforcing Bar From Japan'' dated concurrently with, and 
hereby adopted by, this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The product covered by this investigation is rebar from Japan. For 
a complete description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix 
I.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the preamble to the Department's regulations,\3\ 
the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise 
issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\4\ No interested party 
commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the 
Initiation Notice. However, because the investigation pertains to rebar 
from Japan, the Department preliminarily modified the scope language as 
it appeared in the Initiation Notice to remove the language pertaining 
to the scope of the countervailing duty investigation of rebar from 
Turkey. See the scope in Appendix I to this notice.
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    \3\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
    \4\ See Initiation Notice.
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Methodology

    The Department is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Both mandatory respondents, Jonan Steel 
Corporation (Jonan) and Kyoei Steel Ltd. (Kyoei), failed to participate 
in this investigation by not responding to the Deparment's initial 
questionnaire.\5\ As a result, pursuant to section 776(a) and (b) of 
the Act and 19 CFR 351.308, the Department has preliminarily relied 
upon facts otherwise available, with adverse inferences, to assign an 
estimated weighted-average dumping margin to the Jonan and Kyoei. For a 
full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary 
conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \5\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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All-Others Rate

    Sections 733(d)(1)(A)(ii) and 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that, 
in the preliminary determination, the Department shall determine an 
estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers not 
individually investigated, which 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 and de minimis margins, and any margins determined 
entirely under section 776 of the Act.
    Pursuant to section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, if the estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins established for all exporters and 
producers individually examined are zero, de minimis or determined 
based entirely under section 776 of the Act, the Department may use any 
reasonable method to establish the estimated dumping margin for all 
other producers or exporters.
    As noted above, we determined the dumping margin for the 
individually examined companies Jonan and Kyoei under section 776 of 
the Act. Consequently, the only available dumping margins for this 
preliminary determination are found in the petition and are margins 
upon which we initiated this investigation. Pursuant to section 
735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, the Department's practice under these 
circumstances has been to calculate the ``all-others''' rate as a 
simple average of these margins from the petition.\6\ For a full 
description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the 
Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \6\ See, e.g., Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at 
Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite From the Federal Republic of 
Germany, 73 FR 21909, 21912 (April 23, 2008), unchanged in Notice of 
Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Sodium Nitrite 
From the Federal Republic of Germany, 73 FR 38986, 38987 (July 8, 
2008), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum at Comment 2; 
see also Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair 
Value: Raw Flexible Magnets From Taiwan, 73 FR 39673, 39674 (July 
10, 2008); Steel Threaded Rod From Thailand: Preliminary 
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Affirmative 
Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, 78 FR 79670, 
79671 (December 31, 2013), unchanged in Steel Threaded Rod From 
Thailand: Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and 
Affirmative Final Determination of Critical Circumstances, 79 FR 
14476, 14477 (March 14, 2014).
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Preliminary Determination

    The Department preliminarily determines that rebar from Japan is 
being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV, pursuant 
to section 733 of the Act, and that the following weighted-average 
dumping margins exist:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Exporter/producer                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonan Steel Corporation.....................................      209.46
Kyoei Steel Ltd.............................................      209.46
All-Others..................................................      206.43
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, the Department 
will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend 
liquidation of all entries of subject merchandise as described in the 
``scope of the investigation'' section of this notice entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register, as discussed 
below.\7\ Further, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 
CFR 351.205(d), the Department will instruct CBP to require a cash 
deposit equal to the dumping margins, as indicated in the chart above, 
as follows: (1) The rate for the mandatory respondents listed above 
will be the respondent-specific rates we determined in this preliminary 
determination; (2) if the exporter is not a mandatory respondent 
identified above, but the producer is, the rate will be the specific 
rate established for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) 
the rate for all other producers or exporters will be the ``all-
others'' rate. This suspension of liquidation instruction will remain 
in effect until further notice.\8\
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    \7\ See Appendix I.
    \8\ 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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Disclosure

    Normally, the Department discloses to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination 
within five days of its public announcement or, if

[[Page 12798]]

there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of 
publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). 
However, because the Department preliminarily applied AFA to both Jonan 
and Kyoei, in accordance with section 776 of the Act, there are no 
calculations to disclose.

Verification

    Because the mandatory respondents in this investigation did not 
provide information requested by the Department and the Department 
preliminarily determines each of the mandatory respondents to have been 
uncooperative, verification will not be conducted.

Public Comment

    Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary 
determination. Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted 
to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 
30 days after the date of publication of this notice, 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.\9\ 
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. All documents must be 
filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically filed document 
must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5 p.m. 
Eastern Standard Time on the date the document is due.
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    \9\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice.\10\ Requests should 
contain the party's name, address, and telephone number, the number of 
participants, whether any participant is a foreign national, 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, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230,\11\ at a 
time and date 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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    \10\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
    \11\ Id.
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Final Determination

    In accordance with Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(b)(1), we will make the final determination no later than 75 
days after the signature date of this preliminary determination.

International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the 
International Trade Commission (ITC) of our preliminary determination. 
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: February 28, 2017.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I

Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise subject to this investigation is steel concrete 
reinforcing bar imported in either straight length or coil form 
(rebar) regardless of metallurgy, length, diameter, or grade or lack 
thereof. Subject merchandise includes deformed steel wire with bar 
markings (e.g., mill mark, size, or grade) and which has been 
subjected to an elongation test.
    The subject merchandise includes rebar that has been further 
processed in the subject country or a third country, including but 
not limited to cutting, grinding, galvanizing, painting, coating, 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 rebar.
    Specifically excluded are plain rounds (i.e., nondeformed or 
smooth rebar). Also excluded from the scope is deformed steel wire 
meeting ASTM A1064/A1064M with no bar markings (e.g., mill mark, 
size, or grade) and without being subject to an elongation test.
    The subject merchandise is classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) primarily under item numbers 
7213.10.0000, 7214.20.0000, and 7228.30.8010. The subject 
merchandise may also enter under other HTSUS numbers including 
7215.90.1000, 7215.90.5000, 7221.00.0017, 7221.00.0018, 
7221.00.0030, 7221.00.0045, 7222.11.0001, 7222.11.0057, 
7222.11.0059, 7222.30.0001, 7227.20.0080, 7227.90.6030, 
7227.90.6035, 7227.90.6040, 7228.20.1000, and 7228.60.6000.
    HTSUS numbers are provided for convenience and customs purposes; 
however, the written description of the scope remains dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Use of Facts Available with Adverse Inferences
    A. Application of Facts Available
    B. Use of Adverse Inferences
    C. Selection and Corroboration of the AFA Rate
VI. All-Others Rate
VII. Verification
VIII. Conclusion

[FR Doc. 2017-04415 Filed 3-6-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P