[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 28, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13230-13232]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06134]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-475-836]


Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod From Italy: Final Determination 
of Sales at Less Than Fair Value

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that carbon 
and alloy wire rod (wire rod) from Italy is being, or is likely to be, 
sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of 
investigation (POI) is January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016. The 
final dumping margins of sales at LTFV are listed below in the ``Final 
Determination'' section of this notice.

DATES: Applicable March 28, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria Cho or Mark Flessner, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-5075 and (202) 482-6312, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On October 31, 2017, Commerce published the Preliminary

[[Page 13231]]

Determination of sales at LTFV of wire rod from Italy.\1\ On November 
7, 2017, Commerce published the postponement of the final 
determinations of LTFV investigations and extension of provisional 
measures.\2\ On December 21, 2017, Commerce published the Amended 
Preliminary Determination of sales at LTFV of wire rod from Italy.\3\ 
Commerce has exercised its discretion to toll deadlines affected by the 
closure of the Federal Government from January 20 through 22, 2018. If 
the new deadline falls on a non-business day, in accordance with 
Commerce's practice, the deadline will become the next business day. 
The revised deadline for the final determination of this investigation 
is now March 19, 2018.\4\ A summary of the events that occurred since 
Commerce published the Preliminary Determination, as well as a full 
discussion of the issues raised by parties for this final 
determination, may be found in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, 
which is hereby adopted by this notice.\5\
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    \1\ See Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Italy: Preliminary 
Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 82 FR 
50381 (October 31, 2017) (Preliminary Determination).
    \2\ See Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Italy, the Republic 
of Korea, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom: Postponement of 
Final Determinations of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation and 
Extension of Provisional Measures, 82 FR 51613 (November 7, 2017).
    \3\ See Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Italy: Amended 
Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 82 FR 
60586 (December 21, 2017) (Amended Preliminary Determination).
    \4\ See Memorandum for The Record from Christian Marsh, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, performing the 
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, ``Deadlines Affected by the Shutdown of 
the Federal Government'' (Tolling Memorandum), dated January 23, 
2018. All deadlines in this segment of the proceeding have been 
extended by 3 days.
    \5\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Final Affirmative Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigation of Carbon and Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Italy,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by, this notice (Issues and 
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The scope of the investigation covers wire rod from Italy. For a 
complete description of the scope of the investigation, see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    During the course of this investigation, Commerce received numerous 
scope comments from interested parties. Prior to the Preliminary 
Determination, Commerce issued a Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum 
to address these comments. As a result of these comments, Commerce made 
no changes to the scope of this investigation as it appeared in the 
Initiation Notice.\6\
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    \6\ For discussion of these comments, 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 Determination'' 
(Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum), dated August 7, 2017; see 
also 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 20, 2017) (Initiation Notice).
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    In September 2017, we received scope case and rebuttal briefs. On 
November 20, 2017, we issued the Final Scope Decision Memorandum in 
response to these comments in which we did not change the scope of this 
investigation.\7\
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    \7\ For discussion of these comments, 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: Final 
Scope Memorandum'' (Final Scope Decision Memorandum), dated November 
20, 2017.
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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. 
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 at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/index.html. The signed and 
electronic versions of the Issues and Decision Memorandum are identical 
in content.

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 
amended, (the Act) in November and December 2017, we conducted 
verification of the sales and cost information submitted by Ferriere 
Nord S.p.A. (Ferriere Nord) 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 Ferriere Nord.\8\
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    \8\ For discussion of our verification findings, see the 
following memoranda: Memorandum, ``Verification of the Cost Response 
of Ferriere Nord in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Carbon and 
Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Italy,'' dated January 5, 2018; and 
Memorandum, ``Verification of the Sales Responses of Ferriere Nord 
in the
    Antidumping Investigation of Carbon and Alloy Wire Rod from 
Italy,'' dated January 10, 2018.
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Changes Since the Preliminary Determination

    Based on our analysis of the comments received and our findings at 
verification, we made certain changes to the margin calculations for 
Ferriere Nord. For a discussion of these changes, see the ``Margin 
Calculations'' section of the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

Adverse Facts Available

    In the Preliminary Determination, because mandatory respondent 
Ferriera Valsider S.p.A. (Ferriera Valsider) failed to respond to 
Commerce's questionnaire, we applied adverse facts available (AFA) to 
Ferriera Valsider, in accordance with sections 776(a) and (b) of the 
Act and 19 CFR 351.308. We corroborated the petition dumping margin of 
18.89 percent to the extent practicable within the meaning of section 
776(c) of the Act. This is the sole rate identified in the petition, 
and, thus, we assigned this dumping margin to Ferriera Valsider as AFA.

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. Ferriere Nord is the only respondent for which Commerce 
calculated a company-specific margin that is not zero, de minimis, or 
based entirely on facts otherwise available. Therefore, for purposes of 
determining the ``all-others'' rate and pursuant to section 
735(c)(5)(A) of the Act, we are using the dumping margin calculated for 
Ferriere Nord, as referenced in the ``Final Determination'' section 
below.

Final Determination

    The final weighted-average dumping margins are as follows:

[[Page 13232]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Weighted-
                                                              average
                  Exporter/manufacturer                       dumping
                                                              margins
                                                             (percent)
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Ferriere Nord S.p.A./Acciaierie di Verona S.p.A. \9\....           12.41
Ferriera Valsider S.p.A.................................           18.89
All Others..............................................           12.41
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Disclosure
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    \9\ We continue to treat Ferriere Nord and Acciaierie di Verona 
S.p.A. as a single entity for the final determination.
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    We will disclose the calculations performed within five days of the 
date of publication of this notice to parties in this proceeding in 
accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(1)(B) of the Act, Commerce will 
instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to 
suspend liquidation of all appropriate entries of wire rod from Italy, 
which were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or 
after October 31, 2017, the date of publication of the preliminary 
determination of this investigation in the Federal Register.
    Further, Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal 
to the estimated amount by which the normal value exceeds the U.S. 
price as shown above.

International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

    In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we will notify the 
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 wire rod from Italy no later than 45 days after 
our final determination. 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. If the ITC 
determines that such injury does exist, Commerce will issue an 
antidumping duty order directing CBP to assess, upon further 
instruction by Commerce, 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.

Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders (APO)

    This notice serves as a reminder to parties subject to APO of their 
responsibility concerning the disposition of proprietary information 
disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely 
notification of the return or 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.
    This determination and this notice are issued and published 
pursuant to sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

    Dated: March 19, 2018.
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 Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation 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 of 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, 7213.91.3015, 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 may also 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 these proceedings is dispositive.

Appendix II

List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Scope of the Investigation
IV. Scope Comments
V. Use of Adverse Facts Available
VI. Margin Calculations
VII. Discussion of Issues:
    Comment 1: Revised General & Administrative Expenses
    Comment 2: Revised Selling Expenses
    Comment 3: Ferriere Nord's Correction Letter
    Comment 4: Correction of Errors Discovered at Verification
VIII. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2018-06134 Filed 3-27-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P