Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Japan

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-588-831]

Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:

Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 7, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffery B. Denning or Michael Ready,

Office of Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration,

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

Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone:

(202) 482-4194 or (202) 482-2613, respectively.

PRELIMINARY DETERMINATION: We preliminarily determine that imports of

grain-oriented electrical steel from Japan are being, or are likely to

be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), as

provided in section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the

``Act''). The estimated margins are shown in the ``Suspension of

Liquidation'' section of this notice.

Case History

Since the initiation of this investigation on September 15, 1993,

(58 FR 49017, September 21, 1993), the following events have occurred:

On October 20, 1993, the International Trade Commission (``ITC'')

issued an affirmative preliminary injury determination in this case

(see Investigation No. 731-TA-660).

In October 1993, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'')

requested and received comments, and rebuttal comments, from

petitioners and all interested parties (including the sole respondent

in the concurrent investigation involving Italian producers) on the

model matching hierarchy to be used in this investigation.

In October 1993, the Department contacted Nippon Steel Corporation

(``Nippon''), and Kawasaki Steel Corporation (``Kawasaki''), (producers

who accounted for at least 60 percent of the exports of the subject

merchandise to the United States during the period of investigation

(``POI'')), to communicate our intention to have officials from the

Department travel to their production facilities and headquarters for

the purpose of presenting the antidumping questionnaire, and answering

any questions regarding the ensuing investigation. Nippon and Kawasaki

declined to participate in that presentation.

On November 4, 1993, the Department published a revision of the

scope of this investigation to correct an error published in the notice

of initiation. See Revision of Scope of Investigations: Grain-Oriented

Electrical Steel from Japan, 58 FR 58838. The scope stated below

conforms to that revision.

On November 2, 1993, the Department transmitted the antidumping

duty questionnaires to Nippon and Kawasaki, and on November 12 and 15,

1993, Nippon and Kawasaki, respectively, advised the Department that

they would not be responding to the Department's questionnaire.

Scope of the Investigation

The product covered by this investigation is grain-oriented silicon

electrical steel, which is a flat-rolled alloy steel product containing

by weight at least 0.6 percent of silicon, not more than 0.08 percent

of carbon, not more than 1.0 percent of aluminum, and no other element

in an amount that would give the steel the characteristics of another

alloy steel, of a thickness of no more than 0.56 millimeters, in coils

of any width, or in straight lengths which are of a width measuring at

least 10 times the thickness, as currently classifiable in the

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``HTS'') under item

subheadings 7225.10.0030, 7226.10.1030, 7226.10.5015 and 7226.10.5065.

Although the HTS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs

purposes, our written description of the scope of this proceeding is

dispositive.

The HTS subheadings listed above reflect a revision from those

identified in our Notice of Initiation, and in our published Revision

of Scope of Investigations (58 FR 58838, November 4, 1993). This

revision is due to the fact that the HTS has been amended so that there

are now specific subheadings for grain-oriented electrical steel. This

revision of identified HTS subheadings pertains to this investigation,

as well as the concurrent antidumping and countervailing duty

investigations of grain-oriented electrical steel from Italy (case nos.

A-475-811, C-473-812, respectively).

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation is March 1 through August 31, 1993.

Such or Similar Comparisons

We have determined that the merchandise covered by this

investigation constitutes a single category of such or similar

merchandise.

Fair Value Comparisons

To determine whether sales of grain-oriented electrical steel from

Japan to the United States were made at less than fair value, we

compared the United States price (``USP'') to the foreign market value

(``FMV''), as specified in the ``United States Price'' and ``Foreign

Market Value'' sections of this notice.

Because both Nippon and Kawasaki failed to respond to our

questionnaire, we based our determination on best information available

(``BIA''), pursuant to section 776(c) of the Act.

In determining what to use as BIA, the Department follows a two-

tiered methodology, whereby the Department normally assigns lower

margins to those respondents who cooperated in an investigation and

margins based on more adverse assumptions for those respondents who

refused to cooperate. A full description of the Department's BIA

methodology is included in Appendix II to the Final Determination of

Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Cut-to-Length Carbon Steel Plate

from the United Kingdom (58 FR 37215, July 9, 1993). Because Nippon and

Kawasaki have refused to respond in any way to our antidumping

questionnaire, we have determined each to be a non-cooperative

respondent. As a result, we have based our preliminary determination on

the comparison in the petition between U.S. price and home market price

which yielded the highest antidumping margin. Petitioner's bases for

these prices are fully described in our notice of initiation of this

investigation (see, Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigations:

Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel From Italy and Japan, 58 FR 49017,

September 21, 1993). For this determination, we also made adjustments

to petitioner's calculations to account for Japanese consumption taxes.

(See Memorandum to Lou Apple, dated January 28, 1994.)

Currency Conversion

Petitioners made currency conversions based on the average of the

official exchange rates in effect during the month of the U.S. sale, as

certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(1) of the Act, we are directing

the Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all entries of grain-

oriented electrical steel from Japan that are entered, or withdrawn

from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of

this notice in the Federal Register. The Customs Service shall require

a cash deposit or posting of a bond equal to the estimated preliminary

dumping margins, as shown below. This suspension of liquidation will

remain in effect until further notice.

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

Margin

Producer/manufacturer/exporter percentage

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

Kawasaki Steel Corporation.................................. 31.08

Nippon Steel Corporation.................................... 31.08

All others.................................................. 31.08

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

ITC Notification

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

ITC of our determination. If our final determination is affirmative,

the ITC will determine whether these imports are materially injuring,

or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry before the later of

120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days

after our final determination.

Public Comment

Interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a

written request to the Assistant Secretary for Import Administration,

U.S. Department of Commerce, room B-099, within ten days of the

publication of this notice. Requests should contain: (1) The party's

name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants;

and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed.

In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38, case briefs or other written

comments in at least ten copies must be submitted to the Assistant

Secretary no later than March 2, 1994, and rebuttal briefs no later

than March 7, 1994. A hearing, if requested, will be held on March 9,

1994, at 10 am at the U.S. Department of Commerce in room 3708. Parties

should confirm by telephone the time, date, and place of the hearing 48

hours prior to the scheduled time. In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38(b),

oral presentations will be limited to issues raised in the briefs.

If this investigation proceeds normally, we will make our final

determination not later than 75 days after the date of this preliminary

determination.

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

Act and 19 CFR 353.15(a)(4).

Dated: February 2, 1994.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 94-2997 Filed 2-8-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P