Certain Fresh Cut Flowers From Ecuador; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-331-602]

Certain Fresh Cut Flowers From Ecuador; Preliminary Results of

Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Import Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from the Floral Trade Council,

petitioner in this proceeding, to conduct an administrative review, the

Department of Commerce (the Department) has conducted an administrative

review of the antidumping duty order on certain fresh cut flowers from

Ecuador. The review covers twelve producers and/or exporters of this

merchandise and the period March 1, 1993 through February 28, 1994.

We have preliminary determined that sales have been made below the

foreign market value (FMV). If these preliminary results are adopted in

our final results of administrative review, we will instruct U.S.

Customs to assess antidumping duties equal to the difference between

the United States price (USP) and the FMV.

Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary

results.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 2, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas E. Schauer, Joseph A. Fargo, or

Richard Rimlinger, Office of Antidumping Compliance, International

Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC

20230; telephone: (202) 482-4733/4477.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On March 18, 1987, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'')

published in the Federal Register (52 FR 8494) the antidumping duty

order on certain fresh cut flowers from Ecuador. On March 4, 1994, the

Department published a notice of ``Opportunity to Request

Administrative Review'' with respect to the period March 1, 1993

through February 28, 1994 (59 FR 14608). The Department received a

timely request for review from the petitioner, the Floral Trade

Council, on March 31, 1994, in accordance with 19 CFR 353.22(a). The

Department is now conducting this administrative review in accordance

with section 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Tariff

Act''). Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute and to

the Department's regulations are references to the provisions as they

existed on December 31, 1994.

Scope of the Review

Imports covered by the review are shipments of certain fresh cut

flowers from Ecuador (standard carnations, standard chrysanthemums, and

pompom chrysanthemums). This merchandise is classifiable under

Harmonized Tariff Schedule (``HTS'') items 0603.10.30.00,

0603.10.70.10, 0603.10.70.20, and 0603.10.70.30. The HTS item numbers

are provided for convenience and Customs purposes. The written

description remains dispositive.

The review covers Flores La Antonia, Flores del Quinche S.A.,

Florisol Cia Ltda., Flores de Ibarra, Flores de Puewmbo, Flores del

Ecuador, Flores Pichincha, Florestrade, Guaisa S.A., Inlandes S.A.,

Mundiflor, and Velvet Flores Cia S.A., which are producers and/or

exporters of certain fresh cut flowers from Ecuador to the United

States and the period March 1, 1993 through February 28, 1994.

Best Information Available

Because certain companies did not provide a response to the

Department's request for information, in accordance with section 776(c)

of the Tariff Act, we have preliminarily determined that the use of

best information otherwise available (BIA) is appropriate for these

firms. The Department's regulations provide that we may take into

account whether a party refuses to provide information in determining

what rate to use as BIA (19 CFR 353.37(b)). Generally, whenever a

company refuses to cooperate with the Department or otherwise

significantly impedes the proceeding, we use as adverse BIA the highest

rate for any company for the same class or kind of merchandise from

this or any other segment of the proceeding. When a company

substantially cooperates with our requests for information, but fails

to provide all the information requested in a timely manner or in the

form requested, we use as cooperative BIA the higher of (1) the highest

rate (including the ``all others'' rate) ever applicable to the firm

for the same class or kind of merchandise from the same country from

either the LTFV investigation or a prior administrative review; or (2)

the highest calculated rate in this review for any firm for the same

class or kind of merchandise from the same country. See Antifriction

Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof From

the Federal Republic of Germany, et al.; Final Results of Antidumping

Duty Administrative Review, 57 FR 28360, 28379-80 (July 24, 1992); see

also Allied-Signal Aerospace Co. v. United States 996 F.2d 1185 (Fed.

Cir. 1993).

For these preliminary results we have applied a cooperative BIA

rate to sales made by Flores de Ibarra, Flores de Puewmbo, Flores del

Ecuador, Flores Pichincha, Florestrade, and Mundiflor. These firms are

no longer in business, and we have preliminarily determined, in

accordance with the standards enumerated in Certain Fresh Cut Flowers

From Colombia; Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,

and Notice of Revocation of Order (in Part), 59 FR 15159 (March 31,

1994) (``Colombian Flowers''), that they are incapable of responding to

the Department's questionnaire. In Colombian Flowers, the Department

treated bankrupt, or otherwise out of business, firms as cooperative

provided that they explained their situation to the Department. In this

case, the firms mentioned above submitted certifications that they are

no longer in business and thus could not respond. Therefore, in

accordance with Colombian Flowers, we preliminarily find these firms to

be cooperative.

In this proceeding, none of the firms named above had ever received

a higher margin than that calculated for Flores La Antonia in the

instant review. Therefore, we have applied the rate calculated for

Flores La Antonia, which is 28.44 percent, to Flores de Ibarra, Flores

de Puewmbo, Flores del Ecuador, Flores Pichincha, Florestrade, and

Mundiflor.

United States Price

Pursuant to section 777A of the Tariff Act, we preliminarily

determined that it was appropriate to average U.S. prices on a monthly

basis in order (1) to use actual price information that is often

available only on a monthly basis; (2) to account for large sales

volumes; and (3) to account for perishable product pricing practices.

See Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; Certain

Fresh Cut Flowers from

[[Page 39359]]

Colombia, 56 FR 50554 (October 7, 1991).

In calculating United States price (USP), we used purchase price

(PP) when sales were made to unrelated purchasers in the United States

prior to the date of importation, or exporter's sales price (ESP) when

sales were made to unrelated purchasers in the United States after the

date of importation, both pursuant to section 772 of the Tariff Act.

We calculated purchase price to the first unrelated purchaser in

the United States. The terms of PP sales were either f.o.b. Quito or

c.i.f. Miami. We made deductions, where appropriate, for foreign inland

freight, air freight, brokerage and handling, U.S. Customs duties, and

return credits.

ESP, for sales made on consignment or through a related affiliate,

was calculated based on the packed price to the first unrelated

customer in the United States. We made adjustments, where appropriate,

for foreign inland freight, brokerage and handling, air freight, box

charges, credit expenses, returned merchandise credits, royalties, U.S.

Customs duties, and either commissions paid to unrelated U.S.

consignees or indirect selling expenses of related consignees.

Foreign Market Value

In calculating foreign market value, the Department used home

market prices since there were sufficient sales of such or similar

merchandise in the home market. See section 773(a)(1) of the Tariff

Act.

Home market prices were based on the packed, ex-factory or

delivered prices to unrelated purchasers in the home market pursuant to

section 773(a)(1) of the Tariff Act. Where applicable, we made

adjustments for post-sale movement expenses and differences in packing

in accordance with section 773(a)(1) of the Tariff Act. We also made

adjustments for differences in circumstances of sale in accordance with

19 CFR 353.56, as follows. For comparisons to PP sales, we deducted

home market direct selling expenses and added U.S. direct selling

expenses. For comparisons to ESP sales, we deducted home market direct

selling expenses. We also made adjustments, where applicable, for home

market indirect selling expenses to offset U.S. commissions in PP and

ESP calculations and to offset U.S. indirect selling expenses deducted

in ESP calculations, but not exceeding the amount of the indirect U.S.

expenses in accordance with 19 CFR 353.56(b).

Preliminary Results of the Review

As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine that the

following margins exist for the period March 1, 1993 through February

28, 1994:

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

Margin

Manufacturer/exporter (percent)

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

Flores la Antonia.......................................... 28.44

Flores del Quinche S.A..................................... 1.25

Florisol Cia Ltda.......................................... 0.06

Flores de Ibarra........................................... 28.44

Flores de Puewmbo.......................................... 28.44

Flores del Ecuador......................................... 28.44

Flores Pichincha........................................... 28.44

Florestrade................................................ 28.44

Guaisa S.A................................................. (\1\)

Inlandes S.A............................................... (\1\)

Mundiflor.................................................. 28.44

Velvet Flores Cia S.A...................................... (\1\)

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\1\ No shipments during the period of review; since there was no prior

review of this company, the ``all other'' rate from the less-than-fair-

value (LTFV) investigation is applicable.

Interested parties may request disclosure within 5 days of the date

of publication of this notice and may request a hearing within 10 days

of publication. Any hearing, if requested, will be held 44 days after

the date of publication or the first workday thereafter. Case briefs

and/or written comments from interested parties may be submitted not

later than 30 days after the date of publication. Rebuttal briefs and

rebuttals to written comments, limited to issues in those comments, may

be filed not later than 37 days after the date of publication. The

Department will publish the final results of the administrative review

including the results of its analysis of any such comments or hearing.

Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be effective

for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from

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

final results of this administrative review, as provided for by section

751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act: (1) the cash deposit rates for the

reviewed companies will be those rates established in the final results

of this review; (2) for previously reviewed or investigated companies

not listed above, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the

company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the

exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the

original LTFV investigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit

rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the

manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4) for all other producers and/or

exporters of this merchandise, the cash deposit rate shall be 5.89

percent, the ``all others'' rate from the LTFV investigation. These

deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until

publication of the final results of the next administrative review.

This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of

their responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 to file a certificate

regarding reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of

the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with

this requirement could result in the Department's presumption that

reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent

assessment of double antidumping duties.

This administrative review and notice are in accordance with

section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1)) and section

353.22 of the Department's regulations (19 CFR 353.22(c)(5)).

Date: July 26, 1995.

Susan Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-19015 Filed 8-1-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P