Fresh and Chilled Atlantic Salmon From Norway; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty New Shipper Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-403-801]

Fresh and Chilled Atlantic Salmon From Norway; Preliminary

Results of Antidumping Duty New Shipper Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of antidumping duty new shipper

administrative review.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from one manufacturer/exporter,

Nordic Group A/L (Nordic), the Department of Commerce (the Department)

is conducting a new shipper administrative review of the antidumping

duty order on fresh and chilled Atlantic salmon (salmon) from Norway.

The review covers the period May 1, 1995 through October 31, 1995.

We have preliminarily determined that sales have not been made

below the normal value (NV). If these preliminary results are adopted

in our final results of administrative review, we will instruct the

U.S. Customs Service to liquidate subject entries without regard to

antidumping duties.

Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary

results. Parties who submit argument in this proceeding are requested

to submit with the argument (1) a statement of the issue and (2) a

brief summary of the argument.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 4, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Peterson, or Thomas F. Futtner,

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20230, telephone: (202) 482-4195.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute and Regulations

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). In addition, unless otherwise

indicated, all citations to the Department's regulations are to the

current regulations, as amended by the

[[Page 51911]]

interim regulations published in the Federal Register on May 11, 1995

(60 FR 25130).

Background

On October 30, 1995, the Department received a request from Nordic

for a new shipper review pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Act

and section 353.22(h) of the Department's interim regulations.

Section 751(a)(2) of the Act and section 353.22(h) of the

Department's regulations govern determinations of antidumping duties

for new shippers. These provisions state that, if the Department

receives a request for review from an exporter or producer of the

subject merchandise stating that it did not export the merchandise to

the United States during the period of investigation (POI) and that

such exporter or producer is not affiliated with any exporter or

producer who exported the subject merchandise during that period, the

Department shall conduct a new shipper review to establish an

individual weighted-average dumping margin for such exporter or

producer, if the Department has not previously established such a

margin for the exporter or producer. To establish these facts, the

exporter or producer must include with its request, with appropriate

certification: (i) The date on which the merchandise was first entered,

or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, or, if it cannot certify

as to the date of first entry, the date on which it first shipped the

merchandise for export to the United States; (ii) a list of the firms

with which it is affiliated; and (iii) a statement from such exporter

or producer, and from each affiliated firm, that it did not, under its

current or a former name, export the merchandise during the POI.

Nordic's request was accompanied by information and certifications

establishing the date on which it first shipped and entered subject

merchandise, the names of Nordic's affiliated parties, and statements

from Nordic and its affiliated parties that they did not, under any

name, export the subject merchandise during the POI. Based on the above

information, on December 13, 1995, the Department initiated this new

shipper review of Nordic (60 FR 64018). The Department is now

conducting this review in accordance with section 751 of the Act and

section 353.22 of its regulations.

Petitioners have raised an issue pertaining to the bona fide nature

of the U.S. sale under review. The Department has issued a supplemental

questionnaire to Nordic's affiliated U.S. party, and is awaiting a

response. The Department will incorporate any changes, as a result of

this supplemental questionnaire, in the final results of review.

Scope of the Review

The product covered by this order is the species Atlantic salmon

(Salmo salar) marketed as specified herein; the subject merchandise

excludes all other species of salmon: Danube salmon; Chinook (also

called ``king'' or ``quinnat''); Coho (silver); Sockeye (``redfish'' or

``blueback''); Humpback (``pink''); and Chum (``dog''). Atlantic salmon

is whole or nearly-whole fish, typically (but not necessarily) marketed

gutted, bled, and cleaned, with the head on. The subject merchandise is

typically packed in fresh-water ice (``chilled''). Excluded from the

subject merchandise are fillets, steaks, and other cuts of Atlantic

salmon. Also excluded are frozen, canned, smoked or otherwise processed

Atlantic salmon. Atlantic salmon is currently provided for under the

Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheading: 0302.12.00.02.09.

Verification

As provided in section 776(b) of the Act, we verified information

provided by the respondent by using standard verification procedures,

including on-site inspection of the respondent's facilities, the

examination of relevant sales and financial records, and selection of

original documentation containing relevant information. Our

verification results are outlined in the public version of the

verification report.

Export Price

We calculated the export price (EP) based on the price from Nordic

to unaffiliated parties where these sales were made prior to

importation into the United States, in accordance with section 772(a)

of the Act. We calculated EP based on packed CIF prices to unaffiliated

purchasers in the United States. We made deductions, where appropriate,

for foreign inland freight, brokerage and handling, Norwegian export

taxes, U.S. duties and air freight, in accordance with section

772(c)(2) of the Act. No other adjustments were claimed or allowed.

Normal Value

Because there were no other sales of the subject merchandise in the

home or third country markets, we based normal value (NV) on

constructed value, in accordance with section 773(e) of the Act.

Given that the statute is concerned specifically with the cost of

production of the merchandise, we used the production costs incurred by

the fish farmer, the actual producer of the subject merchandise, to

calculate the cost of production (COP) benchmark. Nordic does not

produce the salmon that it sells. Department practice in such

situations is to sum the production costs of the producer (the fish

farmer), the producer's selling, general and administrative expenses

(SG&A), plus the SG&A of the seller, Nordic.

We calculated the COP for the farm by summing the costs for the

1993 generation salmon. These costs include smolt, feed, labor, and

overhead. We allocated the costs on a per kilogram basis over net

production quantities. We then adjusted these costs to reflect losses

in the processing stage. The farmer's general and administrative

expenses and net interest expenses incurred for the sale of salmon in

1995 were allocated to the salmon sold during the period of review. To

the farmer's individual COP we added the cost of processing and packing

to obtain a subtotal which was multiplied by a profit ratio, based on

Nordic's profit on sales in 1995 of the same general category of

products in accordance with section 773 (e)(2)(B)(i). To obtain the

total constructed value, we added Nordic's SG&A expenses. No other

adjustments were claimed or allowed.

Preliminary Results of the Review

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

following margin exists for the period May 1, 1995, through October 31,

1995:

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

Percent

Manufacturer/producer/exporter margin

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

Nordic Group A/L (Nordic Group ASA)........................... 0.00

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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 as early as

convenient for the parties but not later than 34 days after the date of

publication or the first business day thereafter. Case briefs and/or

written comments from interested parties may be submitted not later

than 20 days after the date of publication of this notice. Rebuttal

briefs and rebuttal comments, limited to issues raised in the case

briefs, may be filed no later than 27 days after the date of

publication of this notice. The Department will issue the final results

of this new shipper administrative review, including the results of its

[[Page 51912]]

analysis of issues raised in any such written comments or at a hearing.

Upon completion of this new shipper review, the Department will

issue appraisement instructions directly to the U.S. Customs Service.

The results of this review shall be the basis for the assessment of

antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by the

determination and for future deposits of estimated duties.

The cash deposit rate for Nordic will be the rate determined in the

final results of this new shipper review, effective upon publication of

those final results for all of Nordic's shipments of the subject

merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or

after the publication date of the final results of this new shipper

administrative review, as provided by section 751(a)(2) of the Act.

This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their

responsibility to file a certificate regarding the 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 Secretary's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping

duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping

duties.

This new shipper administrative review and notice are in accordance

with section 751(a)(2) of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(2)) and 19

CFR 353.22.

Dated: September 27, 1996.

Barbara Stafford,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 96-25532 Filed 10-3-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P