Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-834-802, A-835-802, A-844-802]

Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium

from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Price Determination on Uranium from Kazakstan,

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension

agreement on uranium from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the

Department of Commerce (the Department) calculated a price for uranium

of $15.78/lb. On the basis of this price, the export quota for uranium

pursuant to Section IV.A. of the Kazakstani agreement, as amended on

March 27, 1995, is 700,000 lbs for the period October 1, 1996, through

March 31, 1996. The export quota for uranium pursuant to Section IV.A.

of the Uzbek agreement, as amended on October 13, 1995, is 940,000 lbs

for the period October 13, 1996, through October 12, 1997. Exports

pursuant to other provisions of these agreements are not affected by

this price.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexander Braier or Yury Beyzarov,

Office of Agreements Compliance, Import Administration, International

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

Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-3818

or (202) 482-2243, respectively.

PRICE CALCULATION:

Background

Section IV.C.1. of the antidumping suspension agreements on uranium

from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan specifies that the

Department will issue its observed market price on October 1, 1996, and

use it to determine the quota applicable to exports from Kazakstan

during the period October 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997 and from

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan during the period of October 13, 1996, to

October 12, 1997. Consistent with the February 22, 1993, letter of

interpretation, the Department provided interested parties with the

preliminary price determination on September 18, 1996.

Calculation Summary

Section IV.C.1. of these agreements specifies how the components of

the market price are reached. In order to determine the spot market

price, the Department utilized the monthly average of the Uranium Price

Information System Spot Price Indicator (UPIS SPI) and the weekly

average of the Uranium Exchange Spot Price (Ux Spot). In order to

determine the long-term market price, the Department utilized the

weighted-average long-term price as determined by the Department on the

basis of information provided by market participants and a simple

average of the UPIS U.S. Base Price for the months in which there were

new contracts reported.

The Department's letters to market participants provided a contract

summary sheet and directions requesting the submitter to report his/her

best estimate of the future price of merchandise to be delivered in

accordance with the contract delivery schedules (in U.S. dollars per

pound U3O8 equivalent). Using the information reported in the

proprietary summary sheets, the Department calculated the present value

of the prices reported for any future deliveries assuming an annual

inflation rate of 2.52 percent, which was derived from a rolling

average of the annual GDP Implicit Price Deflator index from the past

four years. The Department used the base quantities reported on the

summary sheet for the purpose of weight-averaging the prices of the

long-term contracts submitted by market participants. The Department

then calculated a simple average of the UPIS U.S. Base Price and the

long-term price as determined by the Department.

Weighting

The Department used the average spot and long-term volumes of U.S.

utility and domestic supplier purchases, as reported by the Energy

Information Administration (EIA), to weight the spot and long-term

components of the observed price. In this instance, we have used

purchase data from the period 1992-1995. During this period, the spot

market accounted for 73.74 percent of total purchases, and the long-

term market for 26.26 percent.

As in previous determinations, the Department used the Energy

Information Administration's (EIA) Uranium Industry Annual to determine

the available average spot- and long-term volumes of U.S. utility

purchases. We have updated the data to reflect the period 1992 through

1995. The EIA has withheld certain contracting data from the public

versions of the Uranium Industry Annual 1993, Uranium Industry Annual

1994, and the Uranium Industry Annual 1995 because this data was

business proprietary. The EIA, however, provided this data to the

Department and the Department has used it to update its weighting

calculation. Accordingly, it may only be released under Administrative

Protective Order.

Calculation Announcement

The Department determined, using the methodology and information

described above, that the observed market price is $15.78. This

reflects an average spot market price of $16.28, weighted at 73.74

percent, and an average long-term contract price of $14.38, weighted at

26.26 percent. The decrease in the observed market price from our

preliminary determination reflects the correction of clerical errors,

as discussed below, and our inclusion in the calculation of two

contracts that were inadvertently omitted from our preliminary price

calculation. Since this price is between $15.00/lb and $15.99/lb

expressed in Appendix A of the

[[Page 52408]]

suspension agreement with Kazakstan, as amended, Kazakstan receives a

quota of 700,000 lbs for the period October 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997.

The suspension agreement with Uzbekistan, as amended, specifies that

Uzbekistan shall have access to its Appendix A quota of 940,000 lbs for

the period of October 13, 1996 to October 12, 1997, provided that the

calculated price is at or above $12.00 per pound.

Comments

Consistent with the February 22, 1993, letter of interpretation,

the Department provided interested parties the preliminary price

determination for this period on September 18, 1996. One interested

party submitted comments.

UPIS Index Used

Comment 1: The Ad Hoc Committee of Domestic Uranium Producers (the

producers) request that the Department correct a minor data error in

its spot price segment of the calculation. According to the producers,

the Department apparently inadvertently used the UPIS Short-Term Price

Indicator data rather than the UPIS Spot Price Indicator data, which is

consistent with previous calculations.

Department's Position: The Department agrees with the producers and

has corrected the data error.

Long Term Contracts

Comment 2: The producers indicated that the Department made a

clerical error in its reporting of the volume of a long term contract

(contract number 1) as the Department apparently had two different

volumes listed for the same contract.

Department's Position: The Department agrees with the producers and

has corrected the error in question.

After the analysis of the above comments, the Department has

determined that the observed market price for uranium is $15.78/lb. The

Department invites parties to provide pricing information for use in

the next price determination. Any such information should be provided

for the record and should be submitted to the Department by March 5,

1997.

Dated: October 2, 1996.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group

III.

[FR Doc. 96-25647 Filed 10-4-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P