Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances; Certain Cased Pencils From the People's Republic of China

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-827]

Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances;

Certain Cased Pencils From the People's Republic of China

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: August 26, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin Heim or Thomas McGinty, Office

of Countervailing Investigations, Import Administration, International

Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-

3798 or (202) 482-5055, respectively.

PRELIMINARY CRITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES DETERMINATION: The Department of

Commerce (the Department) published its preliminary determination of

sales at less than fair value in this investigation on June 16, 1994

(54 FR 30911). On July 22, 1994, petitioner in this investigation

alleged that there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that

critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of certain cased

pencils from the People's Republic of China (PRC). On August 1, 1994,

petitioner amended the original allegation, submitting additional

information regarding the existence of critical circumstances in this

investigation.

In accordance with 19 CFR 353.15(b)(2)(ii), since this allegation

was filed later than 20 days before the scheduled date of the

preliminary determination, we must issue our preliminary critical

circumstances determination not later than 30 days after the allegation

was submitted.

Section 733(e)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act),

provides that the Department will determine that there is a reasonable

basis to believe or suspect that critical circumstances exist if:

(A)(i) there is a history of dumping in the United States or

elsewhere of the class or kind of merchandise which is the subject of

the investigation, or

(ii) the person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was

imported knew or should have known that the exporter was selling the

merchandise which is the subject of the investigation at less than is

fair value, and

(B) there have been massive imports of the class or kind of

merchandise which is the subject of the investigation over a relatively

short period.

History of Dumping

In this investigation, the first criterion of analysis is addressed

in petitioner's July 22, 1994, submission. This submission provides

documentation indicating that in April 1994 the government of Mexico

published an antidumping duty order of 451 percent on certain cased

pencils produced and exported from the PRC. Therefore, petitioner has

established that there is a history of dumping elsewhere of such

pencils by PRC producers/exporters.

Importer Knowledge

With respect to the alternative first criterion, we have

consistently determined that preliminary antidumping duty margins in

excess of 25 percent on U.S. purchase price sales are sufficient to

impute importer knowledge of sales at less than fair value. See, Final

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Silicon Metal from

China (56 FR 18570, April 23, 1991) and Final Determination of Sales at

Less Than Fair Value: Extruded Rubber Thread from Malaysia (57 FR

38465, August 25, 1992). In this investigation, all responding and non-

responding companies received preliminary antidumping duty margins in

excess of 25 percent. Therefore, we determine that importers either

knew or should have known that the exporter was selling certain cased

pencils at less than fair value.

Massive Imports

Because we have preliminarily found that the first statutory

criterion is met for finding critical circumstances in that there is a

history of dumping of the subject merchandise and, alternatively, there

is actual or imputed importer knowledge of sales at less than fair

value, we must consider the second statutory criterion: whether imports

of the merchandise have been massive over a relatively short period.

According to 19 CFR 353.16(f) and 353.16(g), we consider the

following to determine whether imports have been massive over a

relatively short period of time: (1) Volume and value of the imports;

(2) seasonal trends (if applicable); and (3) the share of domestic

consumption accounted for by the imports.

When examining volume and value data, the Department typically

compares the export volume for equal periods immediately preceding and

following the filing of the petition. Under 19 CFR 353.16(f)(2), unless

the imports in the comparison period have increased by at least 15

percent over the imports during the base period, we will not consider

the imports to have been ``massive.''

To determine whether there have been massive imports over a

relatively short period of time, the Department examines shipment

information submitted by the respondent or import statistics, when

respondent-specific shipment information is not available.

On August 4, 1994, the Department sent letters to respondents

requesting information regarding shipments of certain cased pencils for

the period January 1992 to May 1994. On August 16, 1994, we received

the requested information filed in proper form for each of the four

responding companies. Because company-specific shipment data was

provided by the four responding companies in this investigation, we

have used this data for our analysis.

To determine whether or not there have been massive imports of

certain cased pencils over a relatively short period, we compared each

respondent's export volume for the seven months subsequent to the

filing of the petition (November 1993 through May 1994) to that during

the seven months prior to the filing of the petition (April through

October 1993). This period of review was selected based on the

Department's practice of using the longest period for which information

is available from the month that the petition was filed through the

effective date of the preliminary determination of sales at less than

fair value, which in this investigation was June 16, 1994. See,

Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances;

Silicon Carbide From the People's Republic of China (59 FR 16795, April

8, 1994). We were unable to consider the share of domestic consumption

accounted for by the imports, pursuant to Sec. 353.16(f)(1)(iii),

because the available data did not permit such a post-filing analysis.

In addition, we found no evidence of seasonality, pursuant to 19 CFR

353.16(f)(1)(ii), with respect to PRC exports of certain cased pencils

to the U.S.

Based on respondents' shipment information, we find that imports of

certain cased pencils from the PRC have been massive over a relatively

short period for the following companies: Shanghai Foreign Trade

Corporation (SFTC), Shanghai Lansheng, Co., Ltd. (SLC), and China First

Pencil Co., Ltd. (CFP). In addition, we find that imports from

Guangdong Stationery & Sporting Goods I/E Corporation (GSSG), the other

respondent in this investigation, have not been massive.

Therefore, because there is a history of dumping, and,

alternatively, importers knew or should have known that the exporters

were selling the merchandise at less than its fair value, and because

imports of certain cased pencils have been massive over a relatively

short period of time, we preliminarily determine that there is a

reasonable basis to believe or suspect that critical circumstances

exist with respect to imports of certain cased pencils from SFTC, SLC,

and CFP. Because imports from GSSG have not been massive, we

preliminarily determine that there is not a reasonable basis to believe

or suspect that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of

certain cased pencils from GSSG. In addition, with respect to all non-

responding procedures/exporters of certain cased pencils from the PRC,

we preliminarily determine, as best information available, that

critical circumstances exist.

Final Critical Circumstances Determination

We will make a final determination concerning critical

circumstances when we make our final determination of sales at less

than fair value in this investigation.

ITC Notification

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the

International Trade Commission (ITC) of our determination.

Public Comment

We will accept written comments on this preliminary determination

of critical circumstances at the public hearing in this case currently

scheduled for October 5, 1994, at 1:00 p.m. in room 3708.

This determination is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the

Act.

Dated: August 22, 1994.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 94-21122 Filed 8-25-94; 8:45 am]

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