Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products From the Russian Federation; 2010-2011; Final Results of Administrative Review and Revision of Agreement Suspending Antidumping Duty Investigation, 72820-72824 [2012-29537]

Download as PDF 72820 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 235 / Thursday, December 6, 2012 / Notices period May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011: Manufacturer/exporter Weightedaverage dumping margin (percent) Borusan ................................ Toscelik ................................. 6.05 0.00 mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with Disclosure We will disclose calculation memorandums used in our analysis to parties to these proceedings within five days of the date of publication of this notice.18 Assessment Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (‘‘the Act’’), and 19 CFR 351.212(b), the Department will determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of subject merchandise in accordance with the final results of this review. The Department intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP 15 days after the date of publication of these final results of review. For assessment purposes, the Department applied the assessment rate calculation method adopted in Antidumping Proceedings: Calculation of the Weighted-Average Dumping Margin and Assessment Rate in Certain Antidumping Proceedings: Final Modification, 77 FR 8101 (February 14, 2012). We calculated such rates based on the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the examined sales to the total entered value of the sales for which entered value was reported. If an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de minimis (i.e., less than 0.50 percent) or exporter has a weightedaverage dumping margin that is zero or de minimis, the Department will instruct CBP to assess that importer’s entries of subject merchandise without regard to antidumping duties, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.106(c)(2). The Department clarified its ‘‘automatic assessment’’ regulation on May 6, 2003.19 This clarification will apply to entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by companies included in these final results of review for which the reviewed companies did not know their merchandise was destined for the United States. In such instances, we will instruct CBP to 19 CFR 351.224(b). Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 68 FR 23954 (May 6, 2003). liquidate unreviewed entries at the country-specific all-others rate established in the less-than-fair-value (‘‘LTFV’’) investigation if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) involved in the transaction. Cash Deposit Requirements The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon publication of this notice of final results of the administrative review for all shipments of subject merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, on or after the publication date, as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) For the companies subject to this review, the cash deposit rate will be the respective rates established in the final results of this review, as listed above; (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies not listed above that have their own rates, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the companyspecific rate published for the most recently completed segment of this proceeding in which that manufacturer or exporter participated; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recently completed segment of this proceeding for the manufacturer of the subject merchandise; and (4) if neither the exporter nor the manufacturer is a firm covered in this or any previous completed segment conducted under this proceeding by the Department, the cash deposit rate will be 14.74 percent, the all-others rate, established in the LTFV investigation.20 These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice. Notification to Importers This notice serves as a final reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary’s presumption that reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing duties occurred and the subsequent increase in antidumping duties by the amount of antidumping and/or countervailing duties reimbursed. 18 See 19 See VerDate Mar<15>2010 16:42 Dec 05, 2012 Jkt 229001 20 See Antidumping Duty Order; Welded Carbon Steel Standard Pipe and Tube Products From Turkey, 51 FR 17784, 17784 (May 15, 1986). PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Notification 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 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. We are issuing and publishing these results of review in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act. Dated: November 30, 2012. Ronald K. Lorentzen, Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. Appendix I—Issues in Issues and Decision Memorandum General Issues Comment 1: Whether To Apply Targeted Dumping to Borusan and Toscelik Company Specific Issues Borusan Comment 2: Home Market Window Period Comment 3: G&A Expenses Calculation Comment 4: Unpaid Exempted Duties as a Part of the Cost of Production Toscelik Comment 5: U.S. Credit Expense [FR Doc. 2012–29529 Filed 12–5–12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [A–821–809] Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products From the Russian Federation; 2010–2011; Final Results of Administrative Review and Revision of Agreement Suspending Antidumping Duty Investigation Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. SUMMARY: On June 1, 2012, the Department of Commerce (‘‘the Department’’) published its preliminary results of administrative review of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled CarbonQuality Steel Products from the Russian Federation (‘‘the Agreement’’) for the period July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. See Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled AGENCY: E:\FR\FM\06DEN1.SGM 06DEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 235 / Thursday, December 6, 2012 / Notices mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with Carbon-Quality Steel Products From the Russian Federation; Preliminary Results of the Administrative Review of the Suspension Agreement, 77 FR 32513 (June 1, 2012) (‘‘Preliminary Results’’). In its Preliminary Results, the Department determined that, although the Government of the Russian Federation was in compliance with the Agreement, the Department’s evaluation with respect to the status of the Agreement indicated that the Agreement was not meeting its statutory requirement to prevent price undercutting of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. On November 14 and 15, 2012, respectively, the Department and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (‘‘The Economy Ministry of Russia’’) initialed a draft revision to the Agreement which realigns the reference prices issued pursuant to the Agreement with current U.S. market prices. The Department requested, and received on November 23, 2012, comments from interested parties on the initialed draft revision. On November 30, 2012, the Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia signed the final revision to the Agreement. The revision to the Agreement reestablishes the effectiveness of the reference price mechanism and, thus, brings the revised Agreement into compliance with the statutory requirement to prevent the undercutting of domestic price levels by imports of Russian hot-rolled steel. DATES: Effective Date: November 30, 2012. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sally C. Gannon or Anne D’Alauro, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482–0162 or (202) 482–4830. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background In response to a request from Nucor Corporation (‘‘Nucor’’), a domestic interested party, the Department conducted an administrative review of the Agreement, and, on June 1, 2012, the Preliminary Results were published in the Federal Register. Section 751(a)(1)(C) of the Act specifies that, in an administrative review of a suspension agreement, the Department shall ‘‘review the current status of, and compliance with, any agreement by reason of which an investigation was suspended.’’ In this case, the Department reviewed the current status of, and compliance with, the Agreement, which was signed by the VerDate Mar<15>2010 16:42 Dec 05, 2012 Jkt 229001 Department and the Ministry of Trade of the Russian Federation on July 12, 1999, and suspended the antidumping duty investigation. Because the Department determined that the Russian Federation was a non-market economy country at that time, the Agreement was entered into under section 734(l) of the Act, which applies to non-market economy countries.1 This section provides that the Department may suspend an investigation upon acceptance of an agreement with a non-market economy country to restrict the volume of imports into the United States, if the Department determines that the agreement is in the public interest; that effective monitoring is possible; and that the agreement ‘‘will prevent the suppression or undercutting of price levels of domestic products by imports of the merchandise under investigation.’’ Section 734(l)(1). For this purpose, the Agreement’s terms established annual quota limits and a reference price mechanism to provide minimum prices for sales of Russian hot-rolled steel imports into the U.S. market. The reference price mechanism in the Agreement relied on quarterly adjustments, based on the average unit prices of fairly-traded imports as reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as specified under Section III.E of the Agreement. In evaluating the information on the record of the administrative review with respect to the current status of, and compliance with, the Agreement, the Department preliminarily determined that the Agreement’s reference price mechanism, in its current form, was no longer preventing price undercutting by Russian imports of hot-rolled steel into the U.S. market, and, as a result, preliminarily determined that the Agreement was no longer fulfilling its statutory requirement. See Preliminary Results, 77 FR at 32516. The Department preliminarily determined that the record evidence indicated that the adjustments made quarterly within the Agreement’s existing reference price mechanism failed to keep pace with changes in U.S. market prices. Further, once the reference prices became too low relative to U.S. market prices, the subsequent quarterly adjustments were no longer effective in providing new reference prices that were reflective of U.S. market prices for hot-rolled steel. In addition, the Department preliminarily determined that the record evidence indicated that the failing 1 In a memorandum dated June 6, 2002, based on the evidence of Russian economic reforms to that date, the Department revoked Russia’s status as a non-market-economy country under section 771(18)(B) of the Act, with such revocation effective as of April 1, 2002. PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 72821 reference price mechanism, as described, had led to the undercutting of domestic hot-rolled steel price levels by Russian hot-rolled steel imports during the period of review (‘‘POR’’). As a separate matter, in its preliminary results, the Department found no evidence, in the information submitted by interested parties in the administrative review, that the Agreement had been violated during the POR. After the publication of the Preliminary Results, the Department offered interested parties an opportunity to place additional factual information on the record of this administrative review. The Russian producers Joint Stock Company Severstal (‘‘Severstal’’), Novolipetsk Steel, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, and OJSC ‘‘OMKSteel’’ (collectively, ‘‘the Russian producers’’), and Nucor placed factual information on the record on July 5, 2012. Severstal and the domestic producers Nucor, ArcelorMittal USA LLC, United States Steel Corporation, Gallatin Steel Company, Steel Dynamics, Inc., and SSAB N.A.D., Inc. (collectively, ‘‘the domestic producers’’), placed rebuttal factual information on the record on July 16, 2012. The Economy Ministry of Russia, the Russian producers and the domestic producers submitted case and rebuttal briefs in response to the Preliminary Results on July 23, 2012, and August 1, 2012, respectively. On September 21, 2012, the Department extended the deadline for the final results of review from October 1, 2012, until November 28, 2012. See Memorandum to Lynn Fischer Fox, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations in Import Administration, regarding ‘‘Extension of Deadline for Final Results of Administrative Review of the Suspension Agreement’’ (September 21, 2012). The Department subsequently exercised its discretion to toll deadlines for the duration of the closure of the Federal Government from October 29, 2012, through October 30, 2012. Thus, all deadlines in this segment of the proceeding have been extended by two days. The revised deadline for the final results of this review is now November 30, 2012. See Memorandum to the Record from Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, regarding ‘‘Tolling of Administrative Deadlines As a Result of the Government Closure during the Recent Hurricane’’ (October 31, 2012). On January 31, 2012, the Department requested consultations with The Economy Ministry of Russia, under Section VIII.C of the Agreement, to E:\FR\FM\06DEN1.SGM 06DEN1 mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with 72822 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 235 / Thursday, December 6, 2012 / Notices discuss the issues of the alleged sales of Russian hot-rolled steel imports at prices that called into question the effectiveness of the Agreement’s reference price mechanism and whether or not the Agreement was fulfilling its statutory mandate to prevent the undercutting and suppression of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. On February 23, 2012, and September 26– 27, 2012, the Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia held consultations in Washington, DC, and on June 1, 2012, in Paris, France, to discuss these issues. The Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia exchanged several written proposals in an attempt to resolve these concerns and to bring the Agreement into alignment with its statutory requirement to prevent the undercutting of domestic price levels for hot-rolled steel. On November 14 and 15, 2012, respectively, the Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia initialed a draft revision to the Agreement in which the parties agreed to updated reference prices for the fourth quarter of the 2012 Export Limit Period, based on current domestic prices published by the industry publication SteelBenchmarker, as well as a modification to the quarterly adjustment mechanism for making future quarterly reference price adjustments. On November 15, 2012, the Department released to interested parties the initialed draft revision to the Agreement and requested that comments be submitted to the Department by November 23, 2012. See Memorandum to All Interested Parties from Sally C. Gannon Re ‘‘Draft Revision to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from the Russian Federation; Request for Comments’’ (November 15, 2012). The initialed draft revision and request for comments were also published in the Federal Register on November 23, 2012. See Initialed Draft Revision to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled FlatRolled Carbon Quality Steel Products from the Russian Federation; Request for Comment, 77 FR 70142 (November 23, 2012). The Department received timely comments on the draft revision from The Economy Ministry of Russia, the Russian producers, and the domestic producers. The Department has considered, and responded to, all relevant comments concerning the revised Agreement in the Issues and Decision Memorandum (‘‘Decision Memorandum’’) accompanying this VerDate Mar<15>2010 16:42 Dec 05, 2012 Jkt 229001 notice. The revised Agreement is effective on November 30, 2012, the date of the signing of the revised Agreement. Scope of Agreement The merchandise subject to the Agreement is certain hot-rolled flatrolled carbon-quality steel products. The covered merchandise is classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (‘‘HTSUS’’) at subheadings: 7208.10.15.00, 7208.10.30.00, 7208.10.60.00, 7208.25.30.00, 7208.25.60.00, 7208.26.00.30, 7208.26.00.60, 7208.27.00.30, 7208.27.00.60, 7208.36.00.30, 7208.36.00.60, 7208.37.00.30, 7208.37.00.60, 7208.38.00.15, 7208.38.00.30, 7208.38.00.90, 7208.39.00.15, 7208.39.00.30, 7208.39.00.90, 7208.40.60.30, 7208.40.60.60, 7208.53.00.00, 7208.54.00.00, 7208.90.00.00, 7210.70.30.00, 7210.90.90.00, 7211.14.00.30, 7211.14.00.90, 7211.19.15.00, 7211.19.20.00, 7211.19.30.00, 7211.19.45.00, 7211.19.60.00, 7211.19.75.30, 7211.19.75.60, 7211.19.75.90, 7212.40.10.00, 7212.40.50.00, 7212.50.00.00. Certain hot-rolled flat-rolled carbon-quality steel covered include: Vacuum degassed, fully stabilized; high strength low alloy; and the substrate for motor lamination steel may also enter under the following tariff numbers: 7225.11.00.00, 7225.19.00.00, 7225.30.30.50, 7225.30.70.00, 7225.40.70.00, 7225.99.00.90, 7226.11.10.00, 7226.11.90.30, 7226.11.90.60, 7226.19.10.00, 7226.19.90.00, 7226.91.50.00, 7226.91.70.00, 7226.91.80.00, and 7226.99.01.80. Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs purposes, the written description of the covered merchandise is dispositive. See the accompanying Decision Memorandum for the full description of merchandise covered by the Agreement. Period of Review The POR is July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. Final Results of Administrative Review As noted above, in its Preliminary Results, the Department evaluated the information on the record of the administrative review with respect to the current status of, and compliance with, the Agreement and preliminarily determined that the Agreement’s reference price mechanism was no longer preventing price undercutting by Russian imports of hot-rolled steel into PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 the U.S. market, and, as a result, that the Agreement was no longer fulfilling its statutory requirement. The Department indicated in its Preliminary Results that, on February 23, 2012, it had entered into consultations with The Economy Ministry of Russia to discuss the issues of the alleged sales of Russian hot-rolled steel imports at prices that called into question the effectiveness of the Agreement’s reference price mechanism and whether the Agreement was fulfilling its statutory mandate to prevent the undercutting and suppression of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. The Department further indicated that it intended to move forward with additional consultations with The Economy Ministry of Russia during the course of the administrative review period, as mutually agreed, in an attempt to resolve these concerns and to bring the Agreement back into alignment with its statutory requirement to prevent price undercutting. See Preliminary Results, 77 FR at 32516. Pursuant to the government-togovernment negotiations that took place during the course of the administrative review, including direct consultations in February, June and September of 2012, the Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia reached an agreement on a revised Agreement that would meet the statutory requirement of preventing the undercutting of domestic prices of hot-rolled steel. The Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia signed the revision to the Agreement on November 30, 2012, the same day these final results were issued. As described above, the revised Agreement provides updated reference prices for the fourth quarter of the 2012 Export Limit Period, based on current domestic prices published by the industry publication SteelBenchmarker, and modifies the quarterly adjustment mechanism for updating the reference prices going forward. The use of a published source for current U.S. market pricing of hotrolled steel to update the reference prices, and the modifications to the quarterly adjustment mechanism going forward, ensure that the revised Agreement complies with the statutory requirements, pursuant to section 734(l) of the Act. For a detailed discussion of the relevant comments received from interested parties, and the Department’s response to those comments, see the Decision Memorandum. Because the Department has determined that the revised Agreement, which has been signed by the Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia, is in compliance with the requirements of section 734 of the Act, the Department E:\FR\FM\06DEN1.SGM 06DEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 235 / Thursday, December 6, 2012 / Notices finds that the interested parties’ comments concerning the original, unrevised Agreement are moot. In addition, because we have not reached a final determination with respect to the original, unrevised Agreement, the provisions of 19 CFR 351.209(c) with respect to suspension of liquidation do not apply. 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/ 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. We are issuing and publishing this notice in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act. The text of the signed revision to the Agreement follows in Annex 1 to this notice. Dated: November 30, 2012. Ronald K. Lorentzen, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. Annex 1 REVISION TO THE AGREEMENT SUSPENDING THE ANTIDUMPING INVESTIGATION ON CERTAIN HOTROLLED FLAT-ROLLED CARBONQUALITY STEEL PRODUCTS FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION The Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from the Russian Federation (‘‘Agreement’’), signed by the United States Department of Commerce and the Ministry of Trade of the Russian Federation on July 12, 1999, is revised as set forth below. Consistent with Section XI.C of the Agreement governing ‘‘Other Provisions,’’ the English and Russian language versions of this revision shall be authentic, with the English version being controlling. If a provision of the Agreement conflicts with a provision of this revision, the provision of the revision shall supersede the provision of the Agreement to the extent of the conflict. All other provisions of the Agreement and their applicability continue with full force. The Agreement and the present revision to the Agreement are applied without prejudice to either party’s rights under the WTO. The United States Department of Commerce (‘‘DOC’’) and Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (‘‘The Economy Ministry of Russia’’) hereby agree as follows: Section III.C is revised, as follows: III.C. The Reference Prices for the fourth quarter of the 2012 Export Limit Period, corresponding to October 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, shall be updated by using the following procedure: 1. To update the Reference Price for Group One products, DOC shall average FOB U.S. mill (East of the Mississippi) prices for hot-rolled band (‘‘HRB’’) from the public source SteelBenchmarker for the two months, September and October 2012, resulting in $684 per metric ton.2 2. DOC shall decrease the two-month average price resulting from Section III.C.1 by two percent to account for the percentage difference between the average SteelBenchmarker price and the average unit value of fairly-traded imports for the July 2010 through July 2012 period, resulting in $670.32 per metric ton. 3. DOC shall adjust the price resulting from Section III.C.2 for freight and transportation expenses, using the following methodology. DOC shall calculate the freight and transportation expenses using publicly-available import statistics from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (from the International Trade Commission’s Dataweb) for January– June 2012. Based on the difference between the CIF values of Russian hotrolled steel imports relative to the Customs values for the same entries during this period, DOC shall calculate the percentage ratio to be used as a deduction for freight and transportation expenses. DOC shall then subtract the resulting percentage amount of 10.23 percent from the price calculated in Step 2 above to determine the updated Reference Price of $601.75 per metric ton for Group One products for the October 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012, quarterly period. 4. DOC shall calculate the Reference Prices for products in Groups Two and Three for the October 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012, quarterly period based on a 10 and 28 percent increase, respectively, to the Reference Price calculated for Group One, as set forth above.3 5. The resulting updated Reference Prices for the fourth quarter of the 2012 Export Limit Period, corresponding to October 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, and effective as of the date of the signing of this revision to the Agreement, are as follows: Q4 2012 reference price Group mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with One—Commercial and Structural Quality A36, A1011–CS ...................................................................................................................................................................... A1011–SS—Grades 30, 33, 36, 40. A1018–SS—Grades 30, 33, 36, 40. API 5L Grades A & B. Two—HSLA & HSLA–F Quality Grades: A572, A1011–HSLAS ...................................................................................................................................................... A1018–HSLAS, A1011–HSLAS–F. A1018–HSLAS–F. API 5L Gr. X42, X46, X52, X56, X60. API 5CT Grades J55 and K55. Three—High Grade Coils and Sheets for Pipes and Casings API 5L Gr. X65, X70, and X80 ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Group One corresponds to the original grades in the reference price calculation under Section III.C of the Agreement, including modifications to that grade grouping made pursuant to administrative proceedings conducted over the course of the administration of the Agreement. See https:// VerDate Mar<15>2010 16:42 Dec 05, 2012 Jkt 229001 ia.ita.doc.gov/reference-price/refprice-a821809.html for the October 1, 2004–December 31, 2004 quarter. 3 Groups Two (including modifications) and Three were added to the reference price calculation, in accordance with Section III.D of the Agreement, PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 4703 72823 Sfmt 4703 $601.75 661.92 770.24 and as a result of administrative proceedings conducted over the course of the administration of the Agreement. See https://ia.ita.doc.gov/referenceprice/refprice-a821809.html for the October 1, 2005–December 31, 2005 quarter. E:\FR\FM\06DEN1.SGM 06DEN1 72824 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 235 / Thursday, December 6, 2012 / Notices Section III.E is replaced with: III.E. Thirty days before the start of each quarter of each Export Limit Period (beginning with the first quarter, or January 1, 2013, through March 31, 2013), DOC shall calculate the new quarterly Reference Prices, based on the percentage increase or decrease in the weighted-average unit import values for hot-rolled steel from all countries not subject to antidumping duty orders or investigations over the most recent three months for which data is available, compared to the three preceding months. The source of the unit import values will be publicly-available import statistics from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (International Trade Commission’s Dataweb). DOC will provide The Economy Ministry of Russia with the worksheets supporting its calculation of the quarterly Reference Prices at the time it provides the Reference Prices to The Economy Ministry of Russia. For the first calculation only, i.e., for the quarterly reference prices effective for January 1, 2013, through March 31, 2013, the Department shall delay issuance of the reference prices to The Economy Ministry of Russia until the U.S. Bureau of the Census releases data for October 2012 which shall be incorporated into this calculation. Signed in Washington, DC, on November 30, 2012. For the United States Department of Commerce: Ronald K. Lorentzen, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. For the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation: Rinat M. Dosmukhamedov, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the USA. [FR Doc. 2012–29537 Filed 12–5–12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration [A–570–904] Certain Activated Carbon From the People’s Republic of China; 2011– 2012; Partial Rescission of the Fifth Antidumping Duty Administrative Review Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. SUMMARY: On May 29, 2012, the Department of Commerce (‘‘the Department’’) published a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with AGENCY: VerDate Mar<15>2010 16:42 Dec 05, 2012 Jkt 229001 activated carbon from the People’s Republic of China (‘‘PRC’’) based on multiple timely requests for an administrative review. The review covers 187 companies. Based on a withdrawal of the requests for review of certain companies from Calgon Carbon Corporation and Norit Americas Inc. (‘‘Petitioners’’), we are now rescinding this administrative review with respect to two companies. DATES: Effective Date: December 6, 2012. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Palmer, AD/CVD Operations, Office 9, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482–9068. Background In April 2012, the Department received multiple timely requests to conduct an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain activated carbon from the PRC (‘‘the Order’’). Based upon these requests, on May 29, 2012, the Department published a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the Order covering the period April 1, 2011, to March 31, 2012.1 The Department initiated the administrative review with respect to 187 companies.2 On August 27, 2012, Petitioners withdrew their request for an administrative review on Shanxi Xuanzhong Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (‘‘Xuanzhong’’) and Xi’an Shuntong International Trade & Industrials Co., Ltd. (‘‘Xi’an’’).3 Petitioners were the only party to request a review of these companies. Partial Rescission Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), the Secretary will rescind an administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party who requested the review withdraws 1 See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews and Requests for Revocation in Part, 77 FR 31568, 31570 (May 29, 2012) (‘‘Initiation Notice’’). 2 See id. 3 Petitioners also withdrew their request for review of Calgon Carbon (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (‘‘Calgon’’). However, Albemarle Corporation also has submitted a request for an administrative review of Calgon in the current proceeding. See Letter from Albemarle Corporation, dated April 30, 2012. Additionally, we note that there are additional companies for which all review requests were withdrawn within the 90 day period. See Letter to the Department from Petitioners, Re: Certain Activated Carbon from the People’s Republic of China: Petitioners’ Withdrawal of Certain Requests for Administrative Review, dated August 27, 2012. These additional companies for which all review requests were withdrawn do not have a separate rate from a prior segment of this proceeding. We intend to address the disposition of these companies in the preliminary results of this review. PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 the request within 90 days of the date of publication of notice of initiation of the requested review. Petitioners’ requests for review of Xuanzhong and Xi’an were withdrawn within the 90day period. Because Petitioners’ requests for review were timely withdrawn and because no other party requested a review of Xuanzhong and Xi’an, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), we are partially rescinding this review with respect to Xuanzhong and Xi’an. Assessment Rates The Department will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (‘‘CBP’’) to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries.4 Because Xuanzhong and Xi’an have a separate rate from a prior segment of this proceeding, antidumping duties shall be assessed at rates equal to the cash deposit of estimated antidumping duties required at the time of entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(c)(2). The Department intends to issue appropriate assessment instructions directly to CBP 15 days after publication of this notice. Notification to Importers This notice serves as a final reminder to importers for whom this review is being rescinded, as of the publication date of this notice, of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in the Secretary’s presumption that reimbursement of the antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties. Notification Regarding Administrative Protective Orders This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to administrative protective orders (‘‘APO’’) of their responsibility concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305, which continues to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the proceeding. Timely written notification of the return or destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations 4 See E:\FR\FM\06DEN1.SGM 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). 06DEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 235 (Thursday, December 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72820-72824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-29537]

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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-821-809]

Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products From the
Russian Federation; 2010-2011; Final Results of Administrative Review
and Revision of Agreement Suspending Antidumping Duty Investigation

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: On June 1, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``the
Department'') published its preliminary results of administrative
review of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation
on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from
the Russian Federation (``the Agreement'') for the period July 1, 2010
through June 30, 2011. See Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled

[[Page 72821]]

Carbon-Quality Steel Products From the Russian Federation; Preliminary
Results of the Administrative Review of the Suspension Agreement, 77 FR
32513 (June 1, 2012) (``Preliminary Results''). In its Preliminary
Results, the Department determined that, although the Government of the
Russian Federation was in compliance with the Agreement, the
Department's evaluation with respect to the status of the Agreement
indicated that the Agreement was not meeting its statutory requirement
to prevent price undercutting of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. On
November 14 and 15, 2012, respectively, the Department and the Ministry
of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (``The Economy
Ministry of Russia'') initialed a draft revision to the Agreement which
realigns the reference prices issued pursuant to the Agreement with
current U.S. market prices. The Department requested, and received on
November 23, 2012, comments from interested parties on the initialed
draft revision. On November 30, 2012, the Department and The Economy
Ministry of Russia signed the final revision to the Agreement. The
revision to the Agreement reestablishes the effectiveness of the
reference price mechanism and, thus, brings the revised Agreement into
compliance with the statutory requirement to prevent the undercutting
of domestic price levels by imports of Russian hot-rolled steel.

DATES: Effective Date: November 30, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sally C. Gannon or Anne D'Alauro,
Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482-0162 or (202) 482-4830.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

In response to a request from Nucor Corporation (``Nucor''), a
domestic interested party, the Department conducted an administrative
review of the Agreement, and, on June 1, 2012, the Preliminary Results
were published in the Federal Register. Section 751(a)(1)(C) of the Act
specifies that, in an administrative review of a suspension agreement,
the Department shall ``review the current status of, and compliance
with, any agreement by reason of which an investigation was
suspended.'' In this case, the Department reviewed the current status
of, and compliance with, the Agreement, which was signed by the
Department and the Ministry of Trade of the Russian Federation on July
12, 1999, and suspended the antidumping duty investigation. Because the
Department determined that the Russian Federation was a non-market
economy country at that time, the Agreement was entered into under
section 734(l) of the Act, which applies to non-market economy
countries.\1\ This section provides that the Department may suspend an
investigation upon acceptance of an agreement with a non-market economy
country to restrict the volume of imports into the United States, if
the Department determines that the agreement is in the public interest;
that effective monitoring is possible; and that the agreement ``will
prevent the suppression or undercutting of price levels of domestic
products by imports of the merchandise under investigation.'' Section
734(l)(1). For this purpose, the Agreement's terms established annual
quota limits and a reference price mechanism to provide minimum prices
for sales of Russian hot-rolled steel imports into the U.S. market. The
reference price mechanism in the Agreement relied on quarterly
adjustments, based on the average unit prices of fairly-traded imports
as reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as specified under
Section III.E of the Agreement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\1\ In a memorandum dated June 6, 2002, based on the evidence of
Russian economic reforms to that date, the Department revoked
Russia's status as a non-market-economy country under section
771(18)(B) of the Act, with such revocation effective as of April 1,
2002.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In evaluating the information on the record of the administrative
review with respect to the current status of, and compliance with, the
Agreement, the Department preliminarily determined that the Agreement's
reference price mechanism, in its current form, was no longer
preventing price undercutting by Russian imports of hot-rolled steel
into the U.S. market, and, as a result, preliminarily determined that
the Agreement was no longer fulfilling its statutory requirement. See
Preliminary Results, 77 FR at 32516. The Department preliminarily
determined that the record evidence indicated that the adjustments made
quarterly within the Agreement's existing reference price mechanism
failed to keep pace with changes in U.S. market prices. Further, once
the reference prices became too low relative to U.S. market prices, the
subsequent quarterly adjustments were no longer effective in providing
new reference prices that were reflective of U.S. market prices for
hot-rolled steel. In addition, the Department preliminarily determined
that the record evidence indicated that the failing reference price
mechanism, as described, had led to the undercutting of domestic hot-
rolled steel price levels by Russian hot-rolled steel imports during
the period of review (``POR''). As a separate matter, in its
preliminary results, the Department found no evidence, in the
information submitted by interested parties in the administrative
review, that the Agreement had been violated during the POR.
After the publication of the Preliminary Results, the Department
offered interested parties an opportunity to place additional factual
information on the record of this administrative review. The Russian
producers Joint Stock Company Severstal (``Severstal''), Novolipetsk
Steel, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, and OJSC ``OMK-Steel''
(collectively, ``the Russian producers''), and Nucor placed factual
information on the record on July 5, 2012. Severstal and the domestic
producers Nucor, ArcelorMittal USA LLC, United States Steel
Corporation, Gallatin Steel Company, Steel Dynamics, Inc., and SSAB
N.A.D., Inc. (collectively, ``the domestic producers''), placed
rebuttal factual information on the record on July 16, 2012. The
Economy Ministry of Russia, the Russian producers and the domestic
producers submitted case and rebuttal briefs in response to the
Preliminary Results on July 23, 2012, and August 1, 2012, respectively.
On September 21, 2012, the Department extended the deadline for the
final results of review from October 1, 2012, until November 28, 2012.
See Memorandum to Lynn Fischer Fox, Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Policy and Negotiations in Import Administration, regarding ``Extension
of Deadline for Final Results of Administrative Review of the
Suspension Agreement'' (September 21, 2012). The Department
subsequently exercised its discretion to toll deadlines for the
duration of the closure of the Federal Government from October 29,
2012, through October 30, 2012. Thus, all deadlines in this segment of
the proceeding have been extended by two days. The revised deadline for
the final results of this review is now November 30, 2012. See
Memorandum to the Record from Paul Piquado, Assistant Secretary for
Import Administration, regarding ``Tolling of Administrative Deadlines
As a Result of the Government Closure during the Recent Hurricane''
(October 31, 2012).
On January 31, 2012, the Department requested consultations with
The Economy Ministry of Russia, under Section VIII.C of the Agreement,
to

[[Page 72822]]

discuss the issues of the alleged sales of Russian hot-rolled steel
imports at prices that called into question the effectiveness of the
Agreement's reference price mechanism and whether or not the Agreement
was fulfilling its statutory mandate to prevent the undercutting and
suppression of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. On February 23, 2012,
and September 26-27, 2012, the Department and The Economy Ministry of
Russia held consultations in Washington, DC, and on June 1, 2012, in
Paris, France, to discuss these issues. The Department and The Economy
Ministry of Russia exchanged several written proposals in an attempt to
resolve these concerns and to bring the Agreement into alignment with
its statutory requirement to prevent the undercutting of domestic price
levels for hot-rolled steel.
On November 14 and 15, 2012, respectively, the Department and The
Economy Ministry of Russia initialed a draft revision to the Agreement
in which the parties agreed to updated reference prices for the fourth
quarter of the 2012 Export Limit Period, based on current domestic
prices published by the industry publication SteelBenchmarker, as well
as a modification to the quarterly adjustment mechanism for making
future quarterly reference price adjustments. On November 15, 2012, the
Department released to interested parties the initialed draft revision
to the Agreement and requested that comments be submitted to the
Department by November 23, 2012. See Memorandum to All Interested
Parties from Sally C. Gannon Re ``Draft Revision to the Agreement
Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-
Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from the Russian Federation;
Request for Comments'' (November 15, 2012). The initialed draft
revision and request for comments were also published in the Federal
Register on November 23, 2012. See Initialed Draft Revision to the
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain Hot-
Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon Quality Steel Products from the Russian
Federation; Request for Comment, 77 FR 70142 (November 23, 2012). The
Department received timely comments on the draft revision from The
Economy Ministry of Russia, the Russian producers, and the domestic
producers. The Department has considered, and responded to, all
relevant comments concerning the revised Agreement in the Issues and
Decision Memorandum (``Decision Memorandum'') accompanying this notice.
The revised Agreement is effective on November 30, 2012, the date of
the signing of the revised Agreement.

Scope of Agreement

The merchandise subject to the Agreement is certain hot-rolled
flat-rolled carbon-quality steel products. The covered merchandise is
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(``HTSUS'') at subheadings: 7208.10.15.00, 7208.10.30.00,
7208.10.60.00, 7208.25.30.00, 7208.25.60.00, 7208.26.00.30,
7208.26.00.60, 7208.27.00.30, 7208.27.00.60, 7208.36.00.30,
7208.36.00.60, 7208.37.00.30, 7208.37.00.60, 7208.38.00.15,
7208.38.00.30, 7208.38.00.90, 7208.39.00.15, 7208.39.00.30,
7208.39.00.90, 7208.40.60.30, 7208.40.60.60, 7208.53.00.00,
7208.54.00.00, 7208.90.00.00, 7210.70.30.00, 7210.90.90.00,
7211.14.00.30, 7211.14.00.90, 7211.19.15.00, 7211.19.20.00,
7211.19.30.00, 7211.19.45.00, 7211.19.60.00, 7211.19.75.30,
7211.19.75.60, 7211.19.75.90, 7212.40.10.00, 7212.40.50.00,
7212.50.00.00. Certain hot-rolled flat-rolled carbon-quality steel
covered include: Vacuum degassed, fully stabilized; high strength low
alloy; and the substrate for motor lamination steel may also enter
under the following tariff numbers: 7225.11.00.00, 7225.19.00.00,
7225.30.30.50, 7225.30.70.00, 7225.40.70.00, 7225.99.00.90,
7226.11.10.00, 7226.11.90.30, 7226.11.90.60, 7226.19.10.00,
7226.19.90.00, 7226.91.50.00, 7226.91.70.00, 7226.91.80.00, and
7226.99.01.80. Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for
convenience and Customs purposes, the written description of the
covered merchandise is dispositive.
See the accompanying Decision Memorandum for the full description
of merchandise covered by the Agreement.

Period of Review

The POR is July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.

Final Results of Administrative Review

As noted above, in its Preliminary Results, the Department
evaluated the information on the record of the administrative review
with respect to the current status of, and compliance with, the
Agreement and preliminarily determined that the Agreement's reference
price mechanism was no longer preventing price undercutting by Russian
imports of hot-rolled steel into the U.S. market, and, as a result,
that the Agreement was no longer fulfilling its statutory requirement.
The Department indicated in its Preliminary Results that, on February
23, 2012, it had entered into consultations with The Economy Ministry
of Russia to discuss the issues of the alleged sales of Russian hot-
rolled steel imports at prices that called into question the
effectiveness of the Agreement's reference price mechanism and whether
the Agreement was fulfilling its statutory mandate to prevent the
undercutting and suppression of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. The
Department further indicated that it intended to move forward with
additional consultations with The Economy Ministry of Russia during the
course of the administrative review period, as mutually agreed, in an
attempt to resolve these concerns and to bring the Agreement back into
alignment with its statutory requirement to prevent price undercutting.
See Preliminary Results, 77 FR at 32516.
Pursuant to the government-to-government negotiations that took
place during the course of the administrative review, including direct
consultations in February, June and September of 2012, the Department
and The Economy Ministry of Russia reached an agreement on a revised
Agreement that would meet the statutory requirement of preventing the
undercutting of domestic prices of hot-rolled steel. The Department and
The Economy Ministry of Russia signed the revision to the Agreement on
November 30, 2012, the same day these final results were issued. As
described above, the revised Agreement provides updated reference
prices for the fourth quarter of the 2012 Export Limit Period, based on
current domestic prices published by the industry publication
SteelBenchmarker, and modifies the quarterly adjustment mechanism for
updating the reference prices going forward. The use of a published
source for current U.S. market pricing of hot-rolled steel to update
the reference prices, and the modifications to the quarterly adjustment
mechanism going forward, ensure that the revised Agreement complies
with the statutory requirements, pursuant to section 734(l) of the Act.
For a detailed discussion of the relevant comments received from
interested parties, and the Department's response to those comments,
see the Decision Memorandum. Because the Department has determined that
the revised Agreement, which has been signed by the Department and The
Economy Ministry of Russia, is in compliance with the requirements of
section 734 of the Act, the Department

[[Page 72823]]

finds that the interested parties' comments concerning the original,
unrevised Agreement are moot. In addition, because we have not reached
a final determination with respect to the original, unrevised
Agreement, the provisions of 19 CFR 351.209(c) with respect to
suspension of liquidation do not apply.
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/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.
We are issuing and publishing this notice in accordance with
sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
The text of the signed revision to the Agreement follows in Annex 1
to this notice.

Dated: November 30, 2012.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Annex 1

REVISION TO THE AGREEMENT SUSPENDING THE ANTIDUMPING INVESTIGATION ON
CERTAIN HOT-ROLLED FLAT-ROLLED CARBON-QUALITY STEEL PRODUCTS FROM THE
RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain
Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from the Russian
Federation (``Agreement''), signed by the United States Department of
Commerce and the Ministry of Trade of the Russian Federation on July
12, 1999, is revised as set forth below. Consistent with Section XI.C
of the Agreement governing ``Other Provisions,'' the English and
Russian language versions of this revision shall be authentic, with the
English version being controlling.
If a provision of the Agreement conflicts with a provision of this
revision, the provision of the revision shall supersede the provision
of the Agreement to the extent of the conflict. All other provisions of
the Agreement and their applicability continue with full force. The
Agreement and the present revision to the Agreement are applied without
prejudice to either party's rights under the WTO.
The United States Department of Commerce (``DOC'') and Ministry of
Economic Development of the Russian Federation (``The Economy Ministry
of Russia'') hereby agree as follows:

Section III.C is revised, as follows:

III.C. The Reference Prices for the fourth quarter of the 2012
Export Limit Period, corresponding to October 1, 2012 through December
31, 2012, shall be updated by using the following procedure:
1. To update the Reference Price for Group One products, DOC shall
average FOB U.S. mill (East of the Mississippi) prices for hot-rolled
band (``HRB'') from the public source SteelBenchmarker for the two
months, September and October 2012, resulting in $684 per metric
ton.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\2\ Group One corresponds to the original grades in the
reference price calculation under Section III.C of the Agreement,
including modifications to that grade grouping made pursuant to
administrative proceedings conducted over the course of the
administration of the Agreement. See https://ia.ita.doc.gov/reference-price/refprice-a821809.html for the October 1, 2004-
December 31, 2004 quarter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. DOC shall decrease the two-month average price resulting from
Section III.C.1 by two percent to account for the percentage difference
between the average SteelBenchmarker price and the average unit value
of fairly-traded imports for the July 2010 through July 2012 period,
resulting in $670.32 per metric ton.
3. DOC shall adjust the price resulting from Section III.C.2 for
freight and transportation expenses, using the following methodology.
DOC shall calculate the freight and transportation expenses using
publicly-available import statistics from the U.S. Bureau of the Census
(from the International Trade Commission's Dataweb) for January-June
2012. Based on the difference between the CIF values of Russian hot-
rolled steel imports relative to the Customs values for the same
entries during this period, DOC shall calculate the percentage ratio to
be used as a deduction for freight and transportation expenses. DOC
shall then subtract the resulting percentage amount of 10.23 percent
from the price calculated in Step 2 above to determine the updated
Reference Price of $601.75 per metric ton for Group One products for
the October 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012, quarterly period.
4. DOC shall calculate the Reference Prices for products in Groups
Two and Three for the October 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012,
quarterly period based on a 10 and 28 percent increase, respectively,
to the Reference Price calculated for Group One, as set forth above.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\3\ Groups Two (including modifications) and Three were added to
the reference price calculation, in accordance with Section III.D of
the Agreement, and as a result of administrative proceedings
conducted over the course of the administration of the Agreement.
See https://ia.ita.doc.gov/reference-price/refprice-a821809.html for
the October 1, 2005-December 31, 2005 quarter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. The resulting updated Reference Prices for the fourth quarter of
the 2012 Export Limit Period, corresponding to October 1, 2012 through
December 31, 2012, and effective as of the date of the signing of this
revision to the Agreement, are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4 2012
Group reference price
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One--Commercial and Structural Quality
A36, A1011-CS.................................... $601.75
A1011-SS--Grades 30, 33, 36, 40..................
A1018-SS--Grades 30, 33, 36, 40..................
API 5L Grades A & B..............................
Two--HSLA & HSLA-F Quality
Grades: A572, A1011-HSLAS............................ 661.92
A1018-HSLAS, A1011-HSLAS-F.......................
A1018-HSLAS-F....................................
API 5L Gr. X42, X46, X52, X56, X60...............
API 5CT Grades J55 and K55.......................
Three--High Grade Coils and Sheets for Pipes and
Casings
API 5L Gr. X65, X70, and X80..................... 770.24
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 72824]]

Section III.E is replaced with:
III.E. Thirty days before the start of each quarter of each Export
Limit Period (beginning with the first quarter, or January 1, 2013,
through March 31, 2013), DOC shall calculate the new quarterly
Reference Prices, based on the percentage increase or decrease in the
weighted-average unit import values for hot-rolled steel from all
countries not subject to antidumping duty orders or investigations over
the most recent three months for which data is available, compared to
the three preceding months. The source of the unit import values will
be publicly-available import statistics from the U.S. Bureau of the
Census (International Trade Commission's Dataweb). DOC will provide The
Economy Ministry of Russia with the worksheets supporting its
calculation of the quarterly Reference Prices at the time it provides
the Reference Prices to The Economy Ministry of Russia. For the first
calculation only, i.e., for the quarterly reference prices effective
for January 1, 2013, through March 31, 2013, the Department shall delay
issuance of the reference prices to The Economy Ministry of Russia
until the U.S. Bureau of the Census releases data for October 2012
which shall be incorporated into this calculation.

Signed in Washington, DC, on November 30, 2012.

For the United States Department of Commerce:

Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

For the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian
Federation:

Rinat M. Dosmukhamedov,
Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the USA.

[FR Doc. 2012-29537 Filed 12-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P

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