International Trade Administration February 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In response to a request from Hylsa Puebla, S.A. de C.V. (Hylsa Puebla) and Siderurgica Lazaro Cardenas las Truchas S.A. (SICARTSA), the Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Mexico. This review covers imports of subject merchandise from Hysla Puebla and SICARTSA, for the period of review (POR) October 1, 2004, through September 30, 2005. On December 27, 2005, Hysla Puebla withdrew its request for an administrative review and on January 24, 2006, SICARTSA withdrew its request for an administrative review. No other parties requested a review. The Department is now rescinding this administrative review.

The Department of Commerce (Department) has preliminarily determined that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of metal calendar slides (MCS) from Japan.

On January 17, 2006, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, from the People's Republic of China: Final Results of 2003-2004 Administrative Review and Partial Rescission of Review, 71 FR 2517 (January 17, 2006) (``Final Results''), covering the period of review (``POR'') June 1, 2003, through May 31, 2004. We are amending the Final Results to correct ministerial errors made in the calculation of the dumping margins for Luoyang Bearing Corporation (Group) (``LYC''), pursuant to section 751(h) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act'').

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain in-shell (raw) pistachios from the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) for the period January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2004. For information on the net subsidy rate for the reviewed company, please see the ``Preliminary Results of Review'' section of this notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. (See the ``Public Comment'' section of this notice.)

On November 28, 2005, the United States Court of International Trade (``CIT'') issued an order affirming the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') Second Remand Results. See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Consol. Ct. No. 03-00202 (October 21, 2005) (available at https://ia.ita.doc.gov) (``Second Remand Results''); see also Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 05-150, 2005 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 160 (CIT November 28, 2005) (affirming the Second Remand Results in their entirety) (``Globe Metallurgical III''). In the First Remand Results, the Department recalculated the antidumping margins for Bratsk Aluminum Smelter and Rual Trade Limited (collectively, ``Bratsk'') and ZAO Kremny and SUAL-Kremny-Ural Ltd. (``SKU'') (collectively, ``Kremny'') to value the respondents' usage of recycled silicon metal sized zero to five millimeters. See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Consol. Ct. No. 03-00202 (January 5, 2005) (available at https://ia.ita.doc.gov) (``First Remand Results''). In the Second Remand Results, the Department recalculated the adverse facts available (``AFA'') portion of Kremny's antidumping duty margin using the revised antidumping duty margin for Bratsk calculated in the First Remand Results. Because all litigation in this matter has now concluded, the Department is issuing its amended final determination in accordance with the CIT's decision.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') and the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order on Heavy Forged Hand Tools (i.e., Axes & Adzes, Bars & Wedges, Hammers & Sledges, and Picks & Mattocks) (``HFHTs'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing this notice of continuation of these antidumping duty orders.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on low enriched uranium (LEU) from France for the period January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2004. For information on the net subsidy for the reviewed company, please see the ``Preliminary Results of Review'' section, infra. If the final results remain the same as the preliminary results of this review, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess countervailing duties as detailed in the ``Preliminary Results of Administrative Review'' section, infra. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. (See the ``Public Comment'' section, infra).

On January 4, 2006, in response to a request by domestic producers of the subject merchandise, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published a notice of initiation of a changed circumstances review of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils, as described below. See Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Review and Notice of Consideration of Revocation of Order, 71 FR 328 (January 4, 2006) (``Initiation Notice''). In the Initiation Notice, we invited interested parties to comment on the Department's initiation and the proposed revocation of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from Italy. We did not receive any comments. Absent any comments, we preliminarily conclude that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to which this order pertains lack interest in the relief provided by the order. Therefore, we preliminarily revoke this order, in whole, with respect to products entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after September 4, 1998, i.e., the publication date of the Department's preliminary determination in the underlying investigation, because domestic parties have expressed no interest in the continuation of the order. See Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy, 63 FR 47246 (September 4, 1998) (``Preliminary Determination''). Unless the Department receives opposition from domestic producers whose production totals more than 15 percent of the domestic like product, the Department will revoke the order on stainless steel plate in coils in the final results of this review.

On August 10, 2005, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published the preliminary results of the antidumping duty administrative review of persulfates from the People's Republic of China (``the PRC''). This review covers one exporter of the subject merchandise, Shanghai AJ Import and Export Corporation (``Shanghai AJ''). The period of review (``POR'') is July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004. We invited interested parties to comment on our preliminary results. Based on our analysis of the comments received, we have made certain changes to our calculations. The final weighted-average dumping margin for this review is listed in the ``Final Results of Review'' section below.

On February 8, 2006, the binational panel issued its decision in the review of the final determination made by the International Trade Administration, respecting Oil Country Tubular Goods from Mexico Final Results of Sunset Review of Antidumping Duty Order, Secretariat File No. USA-MEX-2001-1904-03. The binational panel remanded the redetermination on remand to the International Trade Administration. Copies of the panel decision are available from the U.S. Section of the NAFTA Secretariat.

On August 10, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register its preliminary results of administrative review of the countervailing duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip from India for the period January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003. See Notice of Preliminary Results and Rescission in Part of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review: Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip from India, 70 FR 46483 (August 10, 2005) (Preliminary Results). The Department has now completed this administrative review in accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Based on information received since the Preliminary Results and our analysis of the comments received, the Department has revised the net subsidy rates for Jindal Polyester Limited/Jindal Poly Films Limited of India (Jindal) and Polyplex Corporation Ltd. (Polyplex), as discussed in the ``Memorandum from Stephen J. Claeys, Deputy Assistant Secretary, to David M. Spooner, Assistant Secretary for Import Administration concerning the Final Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review: Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip from India'' (Decision Memorandum) dated concurrently with this notice and hereby adopted by this notice. The final net subsidy rates for the reviewed company are listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of Review.''

On August 29, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register a notice announcing the initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils (SSSSC) from Japan. See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews and Requests for Revocation in Part, 70 FR 51009 (Initiation Notice). The period of review (POR) is July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005. We are preliminarily rescinding this review because there were no entries of SSSSC for consumption in the United States during the POR that are subject to review.

On September 7, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the Preliminary Results of the antidumping duty administrative review for certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products (CORE) from the Republic of Korea (Korea). See Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Korea: Notice of Preliminary Results and Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 70 FR 53153 (September 7, 2005) (Preliminary Results). This review covers five manufacturers and exporters of the subject merchandise: Union Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Union); Pohang Iron & Steel Company, Ltd. (POSCO) and Pohang Coated Steel Co., Ltd. (POCOS) (collectively, the POSCO Group); Hyundai HYSCO (HYSCO); Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd. (Dongbu) (collectively, respondents); and Dongshin Special Steel Co., Ltd. (Dongshin). The period of review (POR) is August 1, 2003, through July 31, 2004. As a result of our analysis of the comments received, these final results differ from the Preliminary Results. For our final results, we have found that during the POR, the POSCO Group, Union and Dongbu sold subject merchandise at less than normal value (NV). We have also found that HYSCO did not make sales of the subject merchandise at less than NV (i.e., it has a zero or de minimis dumping margin). Regarding Dongshin, because it failed to respond to the Department's questionnaire, we have preliminarily determined to resort to adverse facts available and assigned to Dongshin the ``All Others'' rate in effect for this order (17.70 percent), which is the highest margin upheld in this proceeding. See Preliminary Results at 53155-56. Since the publication of the Preliminary Results, we have not received any comments regarding Dongshin from interested parties that would warrant reconsideration of our finding. Therefore, we have continued to assign a rate of 17.70 percent to Dongshin. The final results are listed in the ``Final Results of Review'' section below. Furthermore, we rescinded the request for review of the antidumping order for SeAH Steel Corporation (SeAH) because neither SeAH nor its affiliates had exports or sales of subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. For more information, see Preliminary Results at 53154.

On August 9, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register the preliminary results and partial rescission of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Taiwan. This review covers 16 manufacturers/exporters. The period of review (POR) is July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2004. We provided interested parties with an opportunity to comment on the preliminary results of review. After analyzing the comments received, we made changes to the margin calculations for two respondents, Chia Far Industrial Factory Co., Ltd. (Chia Far) and Yieh United Steel Corporation (YUSCO). Therefore, the final results of review differ from the preliminary results of review. The final weighted-average dumping margins for the reviewed firms are listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of Review.''

On December 29, 2005, the United States Court of International Trade (``Court'') sustained the final remand determination made by the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') pursuant to the Court's remand of the final results of the administrative review of freshwater crawfish tail meat from the People's Republic of China. See Crawfish Processors Alliance v. United States, Consol. Ct. No. 02-00376, Slip Op. 05-166 (Ct. Int'l Trade December 29, 2005) (``CPA Remand III''). This case arises out of the Departments's Notice of Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, and Final Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review 67 FR 19546 (April 22, 2002) (``Final Results''). The final judgment in this case was not in harmony with the Department's April 2002 Final Results.

On October 7, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary results of its third administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel concrete reinforcing bars (rebar) from Latvia. The review covers one producer of the subject merchandise. The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2003, through August 31, 2004. Based on our analysis of comments received, these final results differ from the preliminary results. The final results are listed below in the Final Results of Review section.

On September 8, 2005, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain cut-to-length carbon steel plate from Romania. The review covers Mittal Steel Galati, S.A. (``Mittal Steel'', formerly Ispat Sidex S.A.) a manufacturer of the subject merchandise, and Metalexportimport SA (``MEI''), an unaffiliated exporter. The period of review is August 1, 2003, through July 31, 2004. This administrative review also covers additional producers/exporters of the subject merchandise: Metanef, S.A. (``Metanef''), MINMET S.A. (``MINMET''), CSR SA Resita (``CSR'') and Combinatul de Oteluri Speciali Tirgoviste (``COST''), for which the Department is now finally rescinding this review because these producers/exporters, with the exception of CSR, did not ship subject merchandise during the period of review (``POR''). With respect to CSR, Nucor Corporation (``Nucor''), a petitioner in this proceeding, filed a timely request for withdrawal of the administrative review for this company.

On December 28, 2005, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the Department) published a notice of initiation of changed circumstances reviews with the intent to revoke, in part, the antidumping duty orders on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products (corrosion- resistant steel) from Canada and Germany, as described below. See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Changed Circumstances Reviews: Certain Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Canada and Germany, 70 FR 76763 (December 28, 2005) (Initiation Notice). In our Initiation Notice, the Department invited interested parties to comment on the request to exclude ``wear plate'' (described below) from the scope of these orders. The Department received no comments. Absent any comments, the Department preliminarily concludes that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to which these orders pertain, lack interest in the relief provided by these orders with respect to wear plate. Therefore, the Department preliminarily concludes that it is appropriate to revoke these orders, in part, with respect to unliquidated entries of wear plate, not subject to the final results of an administrative review, that have been entered for consumption on or after August 1, 2005, based on the fact that domestic parties have made an affirmative statement of no interest in the continuation of the orders with respect to that merchandise.