Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From Thailand

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-549-809]

Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Certain Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From Thailand

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 7, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Vincent Kane or Julie Anne Osgood, 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) 482-2815

or 482-0167, respectively.

Amended Final Determination

We are amending the final determination of sales at less than fair

value of certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings (pipe fittings)

from Thailand to reflect the correction of ministerial errors made in

the margin calculation in the final determination.

Case History

In accordance with section 735(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as

amended (19 U.S.C. 1673d(a)) (the Act), on February 27, 1995, the

Department of Commerce (the Department) published its final

determination that pipe fittings from Thailand were being sold at less

than fair value (60 FR 10552). On March 13, 1995, respondent, Awaji

Sangyo (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (AST), alleged that the Department made

several clerical errors in its final determination regarding the margin

calculations and requested that the Department correct these errors.

Scope of the Investigation

The products covered by this investigation are certain carbon steel

butt-weld pipe fittings having an inside diameter of less than fourteen

inches (355 millimeters), imported in either finished or unfinished

condition. Pipe fittings are formed of forged steel products used to

join pipe sections in piping systems where conditions require permanent

welded connections, as distinguished from fittings based on other

methods of fastening (e.g., threaded, grooved, or bolted fittings).

Butt-weld fittings come in a variety of shapes which include

``elbows,'' ``tees,'' ``caps,'' and ``reducers.'' The edges of finished

pipe fittings are beveled, so that when a fitting is placed against the

end of a pipe (the ends of which have also been beveled), a shallow

channel is created to accommodate the ``bead'' of the weld which joins

the fitting to the pipe. These pipe fittings are currently classifiable

under subheading 7307.93.3000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

United States (``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS subheading is provided

for convenience and Customs purposes, our written description of the

scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Amended Final Determination

On March 13, 1995, respondent alleged that the Department had made

three ministerial errors in the final calculations performed to

determine the dumping margin for AST in accordance with section 353.28

of the Department's regulations. Each alleged error is discussed below.

Comment 1

Upon exportation of finished pipe fitting, AST received drawback of

import duties on imported pipe used to produce the pipe fittings. AST

alleges that the Department incorrectly added the drawback amount to

the foreign market value (FMV), rather than to the United States price

(USP).

DOC Position

We agree with respondent. Section 772(d)(1)(B) of the Act provides

that the U.S. price shall be increased by the amount of any import

duties imposed in the country of exportation which have been rebated,

or not collected, by reason of exportation of the merchandise to the

United States. In the final determination, we inadvertently added

drawback to FMV rather than to USP. We have recalculated FMV and USP to

correct this error.

Comment 2

AST alleges that in allocating indirect selling expenses to the

home market, the Department used an incorrect value for home market

shipments during the period of investigation (POI).

DOC Position

We agree with respondent. We have now reallocated home market

selling expenses using the correct value.

Comment 3

AST alleges the Department erroneously included a quantity of

seamless pipe in its calculation of total welded pipe consumed. AST

contends that this quantity of seamless pipe should be excluded from

the Department's welded pipe consumption calculation.

DOC Position

We agree with AST that the Department erroneously included some

seamless pipe quantities in its calculation of per unit welded pipe

consumed. We intended to include only welded pipe in our welded pipe

consumption calculation. Thus, we have recomputed per unit welded pipe

consumed based solely on AST's welded pipe consumption.

Accordingly, pursuant to section 735(e) of the Act, we have

corrected the ministerial errors in the final determination of sales at

less than fair value. The final estimated margin [[Page 17775]] changes

from 38.41 percent to 17.13 percent.

Suspension of Liquidation

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

the U.S. Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all

entries of butt-weld pipe fittings from Thailand, as defined in the

``Scope of Investigation'' section of this notice, that are produced

and sold by AST and that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for

consumption on or after October 4, 1994.

The Customs Service shall require a cash deposit or the posting of

a bond equal to the estimated weighted-average amount by which the

foreign market value of AST's subject merchandise exceeds the United

States price as shown below. The suspension of liquidation will remain

in effect until further notice. The amended weighted-average dumping

margin is as follows:

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

Margin Deposit

Manufacturer/producer/exporter percent percent

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

Awaji Sangyo (Thailand) Co., Ltd...................... 17.13 16.39

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

We did not determine an ``all others'' rate in this investigation,

because all other producers and exporters of butt-weld pipe fittings

from Thailand are already subject to an antidumping duty order on this

merchandise, which was published in the Federal Register on July 6,

1992 (57 FR 29702).

Adjustment of Deposit Rate for Countervailing Duties

Article VI, paragraph 5 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and

Trade provides that ``[no] product * * * shall be subject to both

antidumping and countervailing duties to compensate for the same

situation for dumping or export subsidization.'' This provision is

implemented by section 772(d)(1)(D) of the Act. Because antidumping

duties cannot be assessed on the portion of the margin attributable to

export subsidies, there is no basis to require a cash deposit or bond

for that amount.

Accordingly, the level of export subsidies as determined in the

most recent administrative review of the countervailing duty order,

Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From Thailand; Final Results of

Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, (57 FR 5248, February 13,

1992), which was 0.74 percent, will be subtracted from the margin for

cash deposit or bonding purposes. This results in a deposit rate of

16.39 percent for AST.

This amended final determination is published in accordance with

section 735(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 353.21.

Dated: March 29, 1995.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 95-8629 Filed 4-6-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-WS-M