Notice of Price Determination; Uranium from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-100-002]

Notice of Price Determination; Uranium from Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Import Administration,

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension

agreements on uranium from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the

Department calculated an observed market price for uranium of $11.13/

lb. On the basis of this price, the export quota for uranium pursuant

to Section IV.A. of each of the agreements is zero. Exports pursuant to

other provisions of the agreements are not affected by this price.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa Skinner, Beth Chalecki, or

Yury Beyzarov, Office of Agreements Compliance, Import Administration,

International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th

Street & Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202)

482-0159, (202) 482-2312, or (202) 482-2243 respectively.

PRICE CALCULATION:

Background

Section IV.C.1. of each agreement specifies that the Department

will issue the DOC observed market price on October 1, 1994, and use it

to determine the quota applicable to imports from the various republics

during the period October 1, 1994 to March 31, 1995.

Calculation Summary

Section IV.C.1. of each agreement specifies how the components of

the market price are reached. In order to determine the spot market

price, the Department utilized the monthly average of the Uranium Price

Information System Spot Price Indicator (UPIS SPI) and the weekly

average of the Uranium Exchange Spot Price (Ux Spot). In order to

determine the long-term market price, the Department utilized the

weighted average long-term price as determined by the Department on the

basis of information provided by market participants and a simple

average of the UPIS Base Price for the months in which there were new

contracts reported.

Our letters to market participants provided a contract summary

sheet and directions requesting the submitter to report his/her best

estimate of the future price of merchandise to be delivered in

accordance with the contract delivery schedules (in U.S. dollars per

pound U3O8 equivalent). Using the information reported in the

proprietary summary sheets, the Department calculated the present value

of the prices reported for any future deliveries assuming an annual

inflation rate of 2.78 percent, which was derived from a rolling

average of the annual GNP Implicit Price Deflator index from the past

four years. The Department used the base quantities reported on the

summary sheet for the purpose of weight-averaging the prices of the

long-term contracts submitted by market participants. We then

calculated a simple average of the UPIS Base Price and the long-term

price determined by the Department.

Weighting

The Department used the average spot and long-term volumes of U.S.

utility and domestic supplier purchases, as reported by the Energy

Information Administration (EIA), to weight the spot and long-term

components of the observed price. In this instance, we have used

purchase data from the period 1989-1992, as in the previous

determination. During this period, the spot market accounted for 31.39

percent of total purchases, and the long-term market for 68.61 percent.

We were not able to include data from the 1993 EIA Uranium Industry

Annual because it has been withheld due to its proprietary nature.

Calculation Announcement

The Department determined, using the methodology and information

described above, that the observed market price is $11.13. This

reflects an average spot market price of $9.33, weighted at 31.39

percent, and an average long-term contract price of $11.95, weighted at

68.61 percent. Since this price is below the $13.00/lb. minimum

expressed in Appendix A of the agreements, there will be no quota under

Section IV.A. of the agreements available to any signatory republic for

the period October 1, 1994 to March 31, 1995.

Comments

Consistent with the Department's letters of interpretation dated

February 22, 1993, we provided interested parties our preliminary price

determination on September 12, 1994. We received no comments.

Allowing for additional information received since September 12, we

have determined that the observed market price for uranium is $11.13/

lb. The Department invites parties to provide pricing information for

use in the next price determination. Any such information should be

provided for the record and should be submitted by March 5, 1995.

Dated: October 4, 1994.

Paul L. Joffe,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 94-25081 Filed 10-11-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P