[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 12, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42794-42796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-19289]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-821-824, A-520-808]
Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod From the Russian
Federation and the United Arab Emirates: Affirmative Preliminary
Determinations of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and Affirmative
Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances for Imports of
Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod From the Russian Federation
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily
determines that imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod (wire rod)
from the Russian Federation (Russia) and the United Arab Emirates (the
UAE) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less
than fair value (LTFV). The period of these investigations (POI) is
January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016. Abinsk Electric Steel Works
Ltd. (Abinsk) and JSC NLMK-Ural (NLMK Ural) are the mandatory
respondents in the Russia investigation. Emirates Steel Industries PJSC
(Emirates Steel) is the mandatory respondent in the UAE investigation.
The estimated weighted average dumping margins of sales at LTFV are
shown in the ``Preliminary Determinations'' section of this notice.
Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary
determinations.
DATES: Applicable September 12, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kaitlin Wojnar, 202-482-3857 (Russia),
or Carrie Bethea at 202-482-1491 (UAE), AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement
and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Department published the notice of initiation of these
investigations on April 26, 2017.\1\ For a complete description of the
events that followed the initiation of these investigations, see the
Preliminary Decision Memorandum dated concurrently with these
determinations 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 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 found at
http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. The signed Preliminary Decision
Memorandum and the electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum are identical in content.
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\1\ See Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Belarus, Italy, the
Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, the
Republic of Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and United
Kingdom: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, 82 FR
19207 (April 26, 2017) (Initiation Notice).
\2\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary
Determination in the Less Than Fair Value Investigation of Carbon
and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from the Russian Federation and the United
Arab Emirates,'' dated concurrently with this notice (Preliminary
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigations
The products covered by these investigations are certain hot-rolled
products of carbon steel and alloy steel, in coils, of approximately
round cross section, less than 19.00 mm in actual solid cross-sectional
diameter (wire rod). Interested parties filed comments regarding the
scope of the investigations. On August 7, 2017, we issued a Preliminary
Scope Decision Memorandum, which addressed these comments and
established a briefing schedule for scope-related issues.\3\ As a
result of the analysis contained therein, the scope language is
unchanged from that in the Initiation Notice.\4\ For a full description
of the scope of these investigations, see the ``Scope of the
Investigations,'' in Appendix I.
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\3\ See Memorandum, ``Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from
Belarus, Italy, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, South
Africa, Spain, the Republic of Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab
Emirates, and the United Kingdom: Scope Comments Decision Memorandum
for the Preliminary Determinations,'' August 7, 2017 (Preliminary
Scope Decision Memorandum).
\4\ Id. at 20.
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Methodology
The Department is conducting these investigations in accordance
with section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).
Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, the Department preliminarily
relied upon facts otherwise available to assign an estimated weighted-
average dumping margin to the mandatory respondents from Russia, Abinsk
and NLMK Ural,
[[Page 42795]]
and the mandatory respondent from the UAE, Emirates Steel, because
these respondents did not timely respond to the Department's
antidumping duty questionnaire. See Preliminary Decision Memorandum for
a complete explanation of the methodology and analysis underlying our
preliminary application of adverse facts available.
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. We cannot apply the methodology
described in section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act to calculate the ``all-
others'' rate, as the margins in these preliminary determinations were
both calculated under section 776 of the Act. In cases where no
weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, de minimis, or those
determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established
for individually examined entities, in accordance with section
735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, the Department averages the margins calculated
by the petitioners in the petition and applies the result to ``all-
other'' entities not individually examined.\5\
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\5\ See 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
(Sodium Nitrite from Germany Final Determination).
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With respect to Russia, in the Petition,\6\ the petitioners
calculated six margins.\7\ Consistent with our practice, we assigned as
the ``all-others'' rate, the simple average of the six dumping margins
provided in the Petition, which is 436.76 percent.\8\ With respect to
the UAE, in the Petition,\9\ the petitioners calculated only one
margin. Therefore, we assigned as the ``all-others'' rate the only
margin in the Petition, which is 84.10 percent.\10\
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\6\ See the Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping Duties
on Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Belarus, Italy, the Republic
of Korea, the Russian Federation, the Republic of South Africa,
Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and the United
Kingdom, dated March 28, 2017 (the Petition).
\7\ Id.
\8\ Id.
\9\ Id.
\10\ See Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From Thailand:
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, and
Postponement of Final Determination, 79 FR 10487 (February 25,
2014), and accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum, unchanged
in Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods From India, the Republic of
Korea, Taiwan, the Republic of Turkey, and the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam: Antidumping Duty Orders; and Certain Oil Country Tubular
Goods From the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Amended Final
Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 79 FR 53691
(September 10, 2014).
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Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances for
Exporters and Producers of Wire Rod From Russia
On July 6, 2017, the petitioners filed a timely critical
circumstances allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and
19 CFR 351.206, alleging that critical circumstances exist with respect
to imports of wire rod from Russia.\11\ The Department preliminarily
determines that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of
wire rod from Russia for Abinsk, NLMK Ural, and all other exporters and
producers. For a full description of the methodology and results of the
Department's analysis, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\12\
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\11\ See Letter to the Secretary from Petitioners re: Carbon and
Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, and
the United Kingdom: Critical Circumstances Allegations, dated July
6, 2017.
\12\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 10.
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Preliminary Determination
The Department preliminarily determines that the following
weighted-average dumping margins exist:
Russia
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted-
average
Exporter/producer margin
(percent)
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Abinsk Electric Steel Works Ltd............................. 756.93
JSC NLMK-Ural............................................... 756.93
All-Others.................................................. 436.80
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UAE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weighted-
average
Exporter/producer margin
(percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emirates Steel Industries PJSC.............................. 84.10
All-Others.................................................. 84.10
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Suspension of Liquidation
In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, we will direct
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all
entries of wire rod from Russia and the UAE, as described in the
``scope of the investigations'' section entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this
notice in the Federal Register. At such time, we will also instruct
CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d),
to require a cash deposit equal to the margins indicated in the chart
above.\13\
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\13\ 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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In addition, section 773(e)(2) of the Act provides that, given an
affirmative determination of critical circumstances, any suspension of
liquidation shall apply to unliquidated entries of subject merchandise
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the
later of (a) the date which is 90 days before the date on which the
suspension of liquidation was first ordered, or (b) the date on which
notice of initiation of the investigation was published. The Department
preliminarily finds that critical circumstances exist for imports of
subject merchandise from Russia produced by Abinsk, NLMK Ural, and all
other exporters and producers not individually examined. Therefore, in
accordance with section 733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, the suspension of
liquidation shall also apply to unliquidated entries of merchandise
from the Russian exporters/producers identified in this paragraph that
were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after
the date which is 90 days before the publication of this notice.
The suspension of liquidation will remain in effect until further
notice.
Verification
Because the mandatory respondents in these investigations did not
provide the information requested and the Department preliminarily
determines these respondents to have been uncooperative, the Department
will not conduct verifications.
Public Comment
Pursuant to the schedule established in the Preliminary Scope
Decision Memorandum, case briefs pertaining to the Department's
preliminary scope determinations may be submitted no later than
September 6, 2017.\14\ Rebuttal scope briefs, limited to issues raised
in the scope case briefs, may be submitted
[[Page 42796]]
no later than September 13, 2017.\15\ For all scope issues, parties
must file separate but identical submissions on the records of all of
the ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty wire rod
investigations.\16\
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\14\ See Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum at 4.
\15\ Id.
\16\ Id.
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Case briefs or other written comments pertaining to these
preliminary determinations for Russia and UAE may be submitted to the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 30
days after the date of publication of these preliminary
determinations.\17\ Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case
briefs, may be submitted no later than five days after the deadline
date for case briefs.\18\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2),
parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in these proceedings
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.
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\17\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(i); see also 19 CFR 351.303.
\18\ See 19 CFR 351.309(d); 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. All documents
must be filed electronically using ACCESS. An electronically-filed
request must be received successfully in its entirety by ACCESS by 5:00
p.m. Eastern Time, within 30 days after the date of publication of this
notice.\19\ 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, 1401
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, 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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\19\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
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U.S. International Trade Commission Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we are notifying the
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our affirmative
preliminary determination of sales at LTFV. 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: September 5, 2017.
Gary Taverman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping and Countervailing Duty
Operations, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix I--Scope of the Investigations
The merchandise covered by these investigations are certain hot-
rolled products of carbon steel and alloy steel, in coils, of
approximately round cross section, less than 19.00 mm in actual
solid cross-sectional diameter. Specifically excluded are steel
products possessing the above-noted physical characteristics and
meeting the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)
definitions for (a) stainless steel; (b) tool steel; (c) high-nickel
steel; (d) ball bearing steel; or (e) concrete reinforcing bars and
rods. Also excluded are free cutting steel (also known as free
machining steel) products (i.e., products that contain by weight one
or more of the following elements: 0.1 percent or more of lead, 0.05
percent or more of bismuth, 0.08 percent or more of sulfur, more
than 0.04 percent of phosphorous, more than 0.05 percent of
selenium, or more than 0.01 percent of tellurium). All products
meeting the physical description of subject merchandise that are not
specifically excluded are included in this scope.
The products under investigation are currently classifiable
under subheadings 7213.91.3011, 213.91.3015, 7213.91.3020,
7213.91.3093; 7213.91.4500, 7213.91.6000, 7213.99.0030,
7227.20.0030, 7227.20.0080, 7227.90.6010, 7227.90.6020,
7227.90.6030, and 7227.90.6035 of the HTSUS. Products entered under
subheadings 7213.99.0090 and 7227.90.6090 of the HTSUS also may be
included in this scope if they meet the physical description of
subject merchandise above. Although the HTSUS subheadings are
provided for convenience and customs purposes, the written
description of the scope of this proceeding is dispositive.
Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum
I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope Comments
V. Scope of the Investigations
VI. Application of Facts Available and Use of Adverse Inference
VII. Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances
for Exporters and Producers of Wire Rod From Russia
VIII. Conclusion
[FR Doc. 2017-19289 Filed 9-11-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P