[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 77 (Friday, April 20, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17529-17531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08290]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-533-810]


Stainless Steel Bar From India: Final Results of Changed 
Circumstances Review and Reinstatement of Certain Companies in the 
Antidumping Duty Order

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

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) has determined that 
certain producers/exporters of stainless steel bar (SS Bar) from India 
made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value (NV) during 
the period of review (POR) July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. 
Accordingly, they are hereby reinstated in the antidumping order on SS 
Bar from India.

DATES: Applicable April 20, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Schauer, 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) 482-0410.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On October 18, 2017, Commerce published the preliminary results of 
this changed circumstances review and intent to reinstate Venus Wire 
Industries Pvt. Ltd. and its affiliates Precision Metals, Sieves 
Manufacturers (India) Pvt. Ltd., and Hindustan Inox Ltd. (collectively, 
the Venus Group), and Viraj Prof[igrave]les Ltd. (Viraj) in the 
antidumping duty order on SS Bar from India.\1\ This review covers SS 
Bar from India produced and/or exported by the Venus Group and Viraj.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See Stainless Steel Bar from India: Preliminary Results of 
Changed Circumstances Review and Intent To Reinstate Certain 
Companies in the Antidumping Duty Order, 82 FR 48483, October 18, 
2017 (CCR Preliminary Results).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On January 9, 2018, we received case briefs from the Venus Group 
and Viraj.\2\ On January 9, 2018, we received a rebuttal brief from the 
petitioners.\3\ On March 8, 2018, Commerce held a public hearing at the 
request of Viraj.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ See Letter from the Venus Group, ``Stainless Steel Bar from 
India: Administrative Case Brief of Venus Wire Industries Pvt. 
Ltd.,'' dated January 9, 2018, and Letter from Viraj, ``Stainless 
Steel Bar from India: Case Brief,'' dated January 9, 2018.
    \3\ See Letters from the petitioners, ``Petitioners' Rebuttal 
Brief Regarding Venus,'' dated January 19, 2018, and ``Petitioners' 
Rebuttal Brief Regarding Viraj,'' dated January 19, 2018. The 
petitioners are Carpenter Technology Corporation, Crucible 
Industries LLC, Electralloy, a Division of G.O. Carlson, Inc., 
North-American Stainless, Outokumpu Stainless Bar, LLC, Universal 
Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc., and Valbruna Slater Stainless, 
Inc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Commerce conducted this changed circumstances review in accordance 
with section 751(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) 
and 19 CFR 351.216(d). For a full description of the methodology 
underlying our conclusions, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.\4\ 
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 
B8024 of the main Department of Commerce building. In addition, a 
complete version of the Issues and Decision Memo can be accessed 
directly at http://enforcement.trade.gov/frn/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ See Memorandum, ``Issues and Decision Memorandum for the 
Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Review of Stainless Steel Bar 
from India,'' dated concurrently with and hereby adopted by this 
notice (Issues and Decision Memorandum).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scope of the Order

    The merchandise subject to the order is SS bar. SS bar means 
articles of stainless steel in straight lengths that have been either 
hot-rolled, forged, turned, cold-drawn, cold-rolled or otherwise cold-
finished, or ground, having a uniform solid cross section along their 
whole length in the shape of circles, segments of circles, ovals, 
rectangles (including squares), triangles, hexagons, octagons, or other 
convex polygons. SS bar includes cold-finished

[[Page 17530]]

SS bars that are turned or ground in straight lengths, whether produced 
from hot-rolled bar or from straightened and cut rod or wire, and 
reinforcing bars that have indentations, ribs, grooves, or other 
deformations produced during the rolling process.
    Except as specified above, the term does not include stainless 
steel semi-finished products, cut-to-length flat-rolled products (i.e., 
cut-to-length rolled products which if less than 4.75 mm in thickness 
have a width measuring at least 10 times the thickness, or if 4.75 mm 
or more in thickness having a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures 
at least twice the thickness), wire (i.e., cold-formed products in 
coils, of any uniform solid cross section along their whole length, 
which do not conform to the definition of flat-rolled products), and 
angles, shapes, and sections.
    Imports of these products are currently classifiable under 
subheadings 7222.10.00, 7222.11.00, 7222.19.00, 7222.20.00, 7222.30.00 
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). Although the HTS subheadings 
are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written 
description of the scope of the order is dispositive.

Basis for Reinstatement

    In requesting revocation, pursuant to 19 CFR 353.25(b) (1996) and 
19 CFR 353.25(a)(2)(iii) (1996),\5\ both the Venus Group and Viraj 
agreed to immediate reinstatement of the order, so long as any exporter 
or producer is subject to the order, if the Secretary concludes that 
subsequent to the revocation, the Venus Group and/or Viraj sold SS Bar 
in the United States at less than NV.\6\ Under 19 CFR 353.25(a)(2)(iii) 
(1996), as long as any exporter or producer is subject to an 
antidumping duty order which remains in force, an entity previously 
granted a revocation may be reinstated under that order if it is 
established that the entity has resumed the dumping of subject 
merchandise.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ The regulation that was in effect when the Venus Group and 
Viraj requested revocation was amended in 1997 to become 19 CFR 
351.222(b). This regulation was then revoked in 2012. See 
Modification to Regulation Concerning the Revocation of Antidumping 
and Countervailing Duty Orders, 77 FR 29875 (May 21, 2012). However, 
when revoking this regulation, Commerce noted that ``{a{time} ny 
company that has been revoked from an antidumping . . . order will 
remain subject to its certified agreement to be reinstated with 
respect to that order if Commerce finds it to have resumed dumping. 
. . .'' See id. at 29882.
    \6\ See Stainless Steel Bar from India; Final Results, 
Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review in Part, and 
Determination To Revoke in Part, 69 FR 55409 (September 14, 2004) 
(Viraj Revocation) and Stainless Steel Bar from India: Final Results 
of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, and Revocation of the 
Order, in Part, 76 FR 56401 (September 13, 2011) (Venus Revocation).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In this case, because other exporters in India remain subject to 
the SS Bar order, the order remains in effect, and the Venus Group and/
or Viraj may be reinstated in the order. Commerce conditionally granted 
the Venus Group and Viraj revocation based, in part, upon their 
agreement to immediate reinstatement in the antidumping duty order if 
Commerce were to find that the companies resumed dumping of SS Bar from 
India.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ See Viraj Revocation, 69 FR at 55411 (``Viraj provided each 
of the certifications required under 19 CFR 351.222(e) . . . 
{including{time}  an agreement to immediate reinstatement of the 
order if the Department concludes that the company, subsequent to 
the revocation, sold subject merchandise at less than NV.'') and 
Venus Revocation, 76 at 56402-3 (``the company has agreed to 
immediate reinstatement of the order if we find that it has resumed 
making sales at less than fair value'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum, we continue to 
find that the use of facts available is warranted in determining the 
dumping margin of the Venus Group and Viraj pursuant to section 776(a) 
of the Act. Further, we continue to find that the Venus Group and Viraj 
failed to cooperate to the best of their ability and, therefore, the 
use of facts available with an adverse inference is appropriate (AFA), 
pursuant to section 776(b) of the Act. We have assigned, as AFA, the 
rates below to the Venus Group and Viraj. Accordingly, we are 
reinstating the Venus Group and Viraj in the antidumping duty order on 
SS Bar from India.

Analysis of Comments Received

    All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs by parties to 
this changed circumstances review are addressed in the Issues and 
Decision Memorandum. A list of the issues which parties raised and to 
which we respond in the Issues and Decision Memorandum is attached to 
this notice as an Appendix.

Final Results of Review

    Commerce determines that the following weighted-average dumping 
margins exist for the period July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Weighted-
                                                                average
                      Producer/exporter                         dumping
                                                                margin
                                                               (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Venus Wire Industries Pvt. Ltd. and its affiliates Precision       30.92
 Metals, Sieves Manufacturers (India) Pvt. Ltd., and
 Hindustan Inox Ltd.........................................
Viraj Prof[igrave]les Ltd \8\...............................       30.92
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure

    Normally, the Department discloses to interested parties the 
calculations performed in connection with the final results of changed 
circumstances review within five days after public announcement of the 
final results of changed circumstances review in accordance with 19 CFR 
351.224(b). Because Commerce used an adverse inference in selecting 
from among the facts otherwise available to each of the respondents in 
this changed circumstances review, in accordance with section 776 of 
the Act, there are no calculations to disclose.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ Viraj Alloys, Ltd., Viraj Forgings, Ltd., and Viraj 
Impoexpo, Ltd., are collectively now known as Viraj Profiles 
Limited. In July 2006, Viraj Forgings Ltd. merged with Viraj Alloys 
Ltd.; in April 2007, Viraj Alloys and Viraj Impoexpo Ltd. merged 
into Viraj Profiles Ltd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cash Deposit Requirements

    Because we established that SS bar from India produced and/or 
exported by the Venus Group and Viraj are being sold at less than NV, 
the Venus Group and Viraj are hereby reinstated in the antidumping duty 
order on SS Bar from India effective upon the publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register. We will instruct U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) to continue to suspend liquidation of all 
entries at 30.92 percent and to continue to require a cash deposit at 
the current rate for all shipments of the subject merchandise of SS Bar 
produced and/or exported by either the Venus Group and Viraj and 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 
October 18, 2017, the date of publication of the preliminary results in 
the Federal Register. These instructions shall remain in effect until 
further notice.

Notifications to Interested Parties

    This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to 
administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility 
concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under 
APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3). Timely written 
notification of 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.

[[Page 17531]]

    We are issuing and publishing these results of review in accordance 
with sections 751(b)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.216.

    Dated: April 16, 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--List of Topics Discussed in the Issues and Decision 
Memorandum

1. Summary
2. Background
3. Scope of the Order
4. Discussion of the Issues
    a. Whether Adverse Facts Available Is Warranted for the Venus 
Group
    b. Whether Adverse Facts Available Is Warranted for Viraj
5. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2018-08290 Filed 4-19-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P