[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)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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