Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Manganese Metal From the People's Republic of China

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-570-840]

Amended Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Antidumping Duty Investigation of Manganese Metal From the

People's Republic of China

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 24, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Boyland or Sue Strumbel, 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) 482-4198

and 482-1442, respectively.

Scope of Investigation

The scope of this investigation, manganese metal, is fully

described in the preliminary determination (see Notice of Preliminary

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of

Final Determination: Manganese Metal from the People's Republic of

China 60 FR 3182, (June 14, 1995)).

Case History

On June 6, 1995, the Department of Commerce (the Department) made

its affirmative preliminary determination of sales at less than fair

value in the above-cited investigation concerning subject merchandise

from the People's Republic of China. On June 20, 1995, respondents in

this investigation, China National Electronics Import & Export Hunan

Company (CEIEC), China Hunan International Economic Development

Corporation (HIED), China Metallurgical Import & Export Hunan Corp.

(CMIECHN), and Minmetal Precious & Rare Minerals Import & Export Co.

(Minmetal), alleged that the Department made two ministerial errors in

the preliminary determinations and requested that the Department

correct these ministerial errors accordingly.

Amendment of Preliminary Determination

Since a preliminary determination only establishes estimated

margins, which are subject to verification and which may change at the

final determination, the Department does not routinely amend

preliminary determinations. However, the Department has stated that it

will amend a preliminary determination to correct significant

ministerial errors (see Amendment to Preliminary Determination of Sales

at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Welded Stainless Steel Pipes from

Taiwan, 57 FR 33492 (July 29, 1992).)

In the preliminary determination of this investigation, the

calculation of HIED's foreign market value (FMV) double counted

material input costs. Additionally, with respect to HIED and the other

companies for which margins were calculated, the Department added

freight to the input cost of manganese ore. (Note: the addition of

freight was despite the fact that the Department determined that

freight costs were already reflected in the input cost of manganese ore

(see June 6, 1995 concurrence memorandum to the Deputy Assistant

Secretary)).

The Department considers the above-referenced errors to be

ministerial errors pursuant to 19 CFR 353.28(d) (see June 29, 1995

Clerical Error Memorandum to the Deputy Assistant Secretary). With

respect to HIED's original margin at the preliminary determination, the

correction of these errors results in a change which is (1) greater

than 5 absolute percentage points, and is (2) greater than 25 percent

of the margin at the preliminary determination. Accordingly, these

errors are considered significant ministerial errors. The ministerial

errors alleged by respondents that relate to all other companies are

not significant and therefore will not be corrected in this amended

preliminary notice.

At the preliminary determination, HIED's margin was the highest

calculated margin and was higher than the highest margin in the

petition, as recalculated by the Department. Accordingly, HIED's margin

was used as the PRC-wide rate. Because Minmetal's margin is now the

highest calculated margin and is higher than the highest margin in the

petition, as recalculated by the Department, Minmetal's margin is now

the PRC-wide rate.

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, the Department

will direct the U.S. Customs Service to continue to require a cash

deposit or posting of bond on all entries of subject merchandise from

the People's Republic of China at the rates indicated below, that are

entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the

date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. The

suspension of liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.

The revised company-specific rate for HIED and the PRC-wide rate, as

well as those rates which have not changed are as follows:

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

Margin

Manufacturer/producer/exporter percent

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

CEIEC......................................................... 132.22

CMIECHN/CNIECHN............................................... 82.44

HIED.......................................................... 57.18

Minmetal...................................................... 148.24

PRC-Wide Rate................................................. 148.24

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

ITC Notification

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

ITC of the amended preliminary determination. If our final

determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine whether imports of

the subject merchandise are materially injuring, or threaten material

[[Page 37876]]

injury to, the U.S. industry, before the later of 120 days after the

date of the original preliminary determination (June 6, 1995) or 45

days after our final determination.

This notice is published pursuant to section 733(f) of the Act and

19 CFR 353.15(a)(4).

Dated: July 17, 1995.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-18138 Filed 7-21-95; 8:45 am]

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