Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Oil Country Tubular Goods From Japan

[A-588-835]

Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Oil Country

Tubular Goods From Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 28, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Beck or Stuart Schaag, 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-

3646 or (202) 482-0192, respectively.

Final Determination

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that oil

country tubular goods (OCTG) from Japan are being, or are likely to be,

sold in the United States at less than fair value, as provided in

section 735 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) (19 U.S.C.

1673d). The estimated margins are shown in the Suspension of

Liquidation section of this notice.

Scope of the Investigation

For purposes of this investigation, OCTG are hollow steel products

of circular cross-section, including oil well casing, tubing, and drill

pipe, of iron (other than cast iron) or steel (both carbon and alloy),

whether seamless or welded, whether or not conforming to American

Petroleum Institute (API) or non-API specifications, whether finished

or unfinished (including green tubes and limited service OCTG

products). This scope does not cover casing, tubing, or drill pipe

containing 10.5 percent or more of chromium. The OCTG subject to this

investigation are currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under item numbers:

7304.20.10.10, 7304.20.10.20, 7304.20.10.30, 7304.20.10.40,

7304.20.10.50, 7304.20.10.60, 7304.20.10.80, 7304.20.20.10,

7304.20.20.20, 7304.20.20.30, 7304.20.20.40, 7304.20.20.50,

7304.20.20.60, 7304.20.20.80, 7304.20.30.10, 7304.20.30.20,

7304.20.30.30, 7304.20.30.40, 7304.20.30.50, 7304.20.30.60,

7304.20.30.80, 7304.20.40.10, 7304.20.40.20, 7304.20.40.30,

7304.20.40.40, 7304.20.40.50, 7304.20.40.60, 7304.20.40.80,

7304.20.50.15, 7304.20.50.30, 7304.20.50.45, 7304.20.50.60,

7304.20.50.75, 7304.20.60.15, 7304.20.60.30, 7304.20.60.45,

7304.20.60.60, 7304.20.60.75, 7304.20.70.00, 7304.20.80.30,

7304.20.80.45, 7304.20.80.60, 7305.20.20.00, 7305.20.40.00,

7305.20.60.00, 7305.20.80.00, 7306.20.10.30, 7306.20.10.90,

7306.20.20.00, 7306.20.30.00, 7306.20.40.00, 7306.20.60.10,

7306.20.60.50, 7306.20.80.10, and 7306.20.80.50.

After the publication of the preliminary determination, we found

that HTSUS item numbers 7304.20.10.00, 7304.20.20.00, 7304.20.30.00,

7304.20.40.00, 7304.20.50.10, 7304.20.50.50, 7304.20.60.10,

7304.20.60.50, and 7304.20.80.00 were no longer valid HTSUS item

numbers. Accordingly, these numbers have been deleted from the scope

definition.

Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and

customs purposes, our written description of the scope of this

investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 1994, through June

30, 1994.

Case History

There has been no activity in this investigation since the

preliminary determination (60 FR 6506, February 2, 1995).

Applicable Statute and Regulations

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Statute and to the

[[Page 33561]] Department's regulations are in reference to the

provisions as they existed on December 31, 1994.

Best Information Available

In accordance with section 776(c) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1677e(c)),

we have determined that the use of best information available (BIA) is

appropriate for both Nippon Steel Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Industries,

Ltd. Given that neither of the named companies responded to the

Department's questionnaire, we find that no respondents have cooperated

in this investigation.

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 cooperate in an investigation, and

margins based on more adverse assumptions for those respondents who do

not cooperate in an investigation. If a respondent is non-cooperative,

that respondent's final margin for the relevant class or kind of

merchandise is the higher of either (1) the highest margin in the

petition, or (2) the highest calculated margin of any respondent (see

Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts

Thereof From the Federal Republic of Germany: Final Determination of

Sales at Less Than Fair Value (54 FR 18992, 19033, May 3, 1989)). The

Department's two-tier methodology for assigning BIA conditioned on the

degree of respondents' cooperation has been upheld by the U.S. Court of

Appeals for the Federal Circuit. (See Allied Signal Aerospace Co. v.

United States, 996 F.2d 1185 (Fed. Cir. 1993); see also Krupp Stahl, AG

et al. v. United States, 822 F. Supp. 789 (CIT 1993).)

In this investigation, the two respondents refused to cooperate by

failing to respond to the Department's questionnaire. Therefore, in

accordance with our standard practice, the Department has assigned the

highest margin in the petition to both respondents. The assigned BIA

margin is the same margin that was assigned for the preliminary

determination.

Fair Value Comparisons

To arrive at the BIA margin referred to above, we compared United

States price (USP) to foreign market value (FMV) as reported in the

petition. See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigation of Oil

Country Tubular Goods Pipe from Argentina, Austria, Italy, Japan,

Korea, Mexico, and Spain (59 FR 37962, July 26, 1994).

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(1) of the Act 19 U.S.C.

1673b(d)(1), we directed the Customs Service to suspend liquidation of

all entries of OCTG from Japan, as defined in the ``Scope of

Investigation'' section of this notice, that are entered, or withdrawn

from warehouse, for consumption on or after February 2, 1995.

Pursuant to the results of this final determination, we will

instruct the Customs Service to require a cash deposit or posting of a

bond equal to the estimated final dumping margin, as shown below, for

entries of OCTG from Japan that are entered, or withdrawn from

warehouse, for consumption from the date of publication of this notice

in the Federal Register. The suspension of liquidation will remain in

effect until further notice.

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

Weighted-

average

Manufacturer/producer/exporter margin

percentage

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

Nippon Steel Corporation................................... 44.20

Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd............................. 44.20

All Others................................................. 44.20

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

International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification

In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the

ITC of our determination. The ITC will make its determination whether

these imports materially injure, or threaten injury to, a U.S. industry

within 45 days of the publication of this notice. If the ITC determines

that material injury or threat of material injury does not exist, the

proceeding will be terminated and all securities posted as a result of

the suspension of liquidation will be refunded or cancelled. However,

if the ITC determines that such injury does exist, the Department will

issue an antidumping duty order.

Notification to Interested Parties

This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to

administrative protective order (APO) in this investigation of their

responsibility covering the return or destruction of proprietary

information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 353.34(d).

Failure to comply is a violation of the APO.

This determination is published pursuant to section 735(d) of the

Act (19 U.S.C. 1673d(d)) and 19 CFR 353.20(a)(4).

Dated: June 19, 1995.

Paul L. Joffe,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-15619 Filed 6-27-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P