Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Polyvinyl Alcohol From Japan

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-588-836]

Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Polyvinyl Alcohol From Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 10, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Grebasch or Erik Warga, Office

of Antidumping Investigations, Import Administration, International

Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone: (202)

482-3773 or (202) 482-0922, respectively.

The Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the statute are

references to the provisions effective January 1, 1995, the effective

date of the amendments made to the Tariff Act of 1930 (the Act) by the

Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).

Preliminary Determination

We preliminarily determine that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) from Japan

is being, or is 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 March 29, 1995 (60 FR

17053, April 4, 1995), the following events have occurred:

On April 10, 1995, one company, Denki Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

(Denki), requested that it not be required to respond to the

antidumping questionnaire in this investigation because it accounted

for a small portion of total Japanese exports to the United States. The

petitioner stated in a filing that they did not object.

On April 24, 1995, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)

notified the Department of Commerce (the Department) of its affirmative

preliminary determination.

[[Page 52650]]

During May the Department sent antidumping questionnaires to the

Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the following

companies: Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Kuraray), Nippon Synthetic Chemical

Industry Co., Ltd. (Nippon Goshei), Unitika Ltd. (Unitika), and Shin-

Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Shin-Etsu). The Department received

notification from Nippon Goshei and Shin-Etsu that they would not be

responding to the Department's antidumping questionnaire. Kuraray

responded to Section A of the antidumping questionnaire and then

notified the Department it would not be responding to the remaining

sections of the questionnaire. Unitika did not file a questionnaire

response.

On July 21, 1995, the petitioner in this investigation, Air

Products and Chemicals, Inc., requested that the Department postpone

the preliminary determination until October 2, 1995. We granted this

request pursuant to section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act, and postponed the

preliminary determination until not later than October 2, 1995 (60 FR

39931, August, 4, 1995).

On September 19, 1995, the petitioner amended the petition to

exclude from the scope of this investigation polyvinyl alcohols

covalently bonded with acetoacetylate, carboxylic acid, or sulfonic

acid uniformly present on all polymer chains in a concentration equal

to or greater than two mole percent, or poylvinyl alcohols covalently

bonded with silane uniformly present on all polymer chains in a

concentration equal to or greater than one-tenth of one mole percent.

We have revised the scope of this investigation to reflect the

petitioner's amendment (see the ``Scope of Investigation'' section of

this notice, below).

Scope of Investigation

The merchandise under investigation is polyvinyl alcohol. Polyvinyl

alcohol is a dry, white to cream-colored, water-soluble synthetic

polymer, usually prepared by hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate. This

product includes polyvinyl alcohols hydrolyzed in excess of 85 percent,

whether or not mixed or diluted with defoamer or boric acid, except for

polyvinyl alcohols covalently bonded with acetoacetylate, carboxylic

acid, or sulfonic acid uniformly present on all polymer chains in a

concentration equal to or greater than two mole percent, or poylvinyl

alcohols covalently bonded with silane uniformly present on all polymer

chains in a concentration equal to or greater than one-tenth of one

mole percent, which are excluded.

The merchandise under investigation is currently classifiable under

subheading 3905.20.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United

States (HTSUS). Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for

convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the

merchandise under investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 1994, through March

31, 1995.

Facts Available

Pursuant to section 776 of the Act, the Department will use the

facts otherwise available if necessary information is not available on

the record, or if an interested party or any other person withholds

requested information, fails to provide such information by the

deadlines for submission of the information or in the form and manner

requested, significantly impedes a proceeding, or provides such

information but the information cannot be verified.

In addition, section 776(b) of the Act provides that, if the

Department finds that an interested party ``has failed to cooperate by

not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for

information,'' the Department may use information that is adverse to

the interests of that party as the facts otherwise available. The

statute also provides that such an adverse inference may be based on

secondary information, including information drawn from the petition.

Section 776(c) explains that where the Department relies on

``secondary information,'' the Department will, to the extent

practicable, corroborate that information from independent sources

reasonably at the Department's disposal. The Statement of

Administrative Action (SAA), accompanying the URAA, clarifies that the

petition is ``secondary information.'' See SAA, published in H. Doc.

103-316, 103d Cong., 2d Sess. at 807, 870. The SAA also clarifies that

``corroborate'' means to determine that the information used has

probative value. However, where corroboration is not practicable, the

Department may use the uncorroborated information.

In the present case, all respondents failed to respond to the

Department's antidumping questionnaire. Therefore, the Department

determines that necessary information is not on the record, and that no

party has acted to the best of its ability and thus, that application

of section 776(b) is warranted.

In the present case, the petition is the only information on the

record which could form the basis for a dumping calculation. Therefore,

the Department has based the margins for all parties on information in

the petition.

In accordance with section 776(c) of the Act, the Department

attempted to corroborate the petition information by comparing the

petition information on export price against U.S. Customs data and

Japanese export statistics. However, both of these sources record

prices based on the HTSUS subheading 3905.20.00, which includes both

subject and non-subject merchandise. We were therefore unable to use

either source of information to corroborate the prices contained in the

petition. However, on the record of this investigation is a price quote

from an independent source which does tend to corroborate the export

price used in the petition (see Memorandum from Lou Apple to the file

dated August 1, 1995).

As to normal value starting price, or any other foreign costs, we

are not aware of any practicable means of corroborating such

information.

Finally, we examined the ocean freight charge in the petition as it

is a significant adjustment element which is not foreign based. Based

on our examination of the supporting documentation contained in the

petition, we find that the ocean freight charge has probative value.

We note that one respondent submitted a section A response which

contained some pricing information. However, because of the danger of

self-serving statements by respondents who do not cooperate, such

information cannot be used to adjust the margin alleged in the

petition.

Accordingly, we have preliminarily relied upon the information

contained in the petition. We have assigned to all exporters a margin

of 77.49 percent, the margin calculated in the petition on merchandise

which is within the scope of this investigation.

All-Others Rate

Under section 735(c)(5) of the Act, the ``all-others rate'' will

normally be a weighted average of the weighted-average dumping margins

established for all exporters and producers, but excluding any zero or

de minimis margins, or any margins based entirely on the facts

available. However, this provision also states that if all weighted-

average margins are zero, de minimis, or based on the facts available,

the Department may use other reasonable methods to calculate the all-

others rate, including a weighted-average of such margins. In this

case, as discussed above, the margin assigned to all companies is 77.49

percent, based on

[[Page 52651]]

the facts available. Therefore, also based on the facts available, the

Department determines the all-others rate to be 77.49 percent.

Suspension of Liquidation

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

Customs Service to suspend liquidation of all entries of PVA 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 amount by which the normal value

exceeds the export price as shown below. These suspension of

liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

The dumping margins are as follows:

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

Margin

Exporter/manufacturer percentage

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

Kuraray..................................................... 77.49

Nippon Goshei............................................... 77.49

Unitika..................................................... 77.49

Shin-Etsu................................................... 77.49

All Others.................................................. 77.49

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

The all others rate applies to all entries of subject merchandise

except for entries from exporters that are identified above.

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 before the later of 120 days after the date of

this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination

whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material

injury to, the U.S. industry.

Public Comment

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 for Import Administration no later than November 9, 1995, and

rebuttal briefs, no later than November 16, 1995. A list of authorities

used and a summary of arguments made in the briefs should accompany

these briefs. Such summary must be limited to five pages total,

including footnotes. In accordance with 19 CFR 353.38, we will hold a

public hearing, if requested, to afford interested parties an

opportunity to comment on arguments raised in case or rebuttal briefs.

Tentatively, the hearing will be held at 1:30 p.m. on November 20,

1995, at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 3606, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230. Parties should

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

before the scheduled time.

Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate

if one is requested, 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(b), oral presentations will

be limited to issues raised in the briefs. If this investigation

proceeds normally, we will make our final determination by December 18,

1995.

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

Act.

Dated: October 2, 1995.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-25060 Filed 10-6-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P