Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value; Polyvinyl Alcohol From Japan

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-588-836]

Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value;

Polyvinyl Alcohol From Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 29, 1996.

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 NW., 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).

Final Determination

As explained in the memoranda from the Assistant Secretary for

Import Administration dated November 22, 1995, and January 11, 1996,

the Department of Commerce (the Department) has exercised its

discretion to toll all deadlines for the duration of the partial

shutdowns of the Federal Government from November 15 through November

21, 1995, and December 16, 1995, through January 6, 1996. Thus, the

deadline for the final determination in this investigation has been

extended by 28 days, i.e., one day for each day (or partial day) the

Department was closed. As such, the deadline for this final

determination is no later than March 21, 1996.

We determine that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) from Japan is being sold

in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in

section 735 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 preliminary determination of sales at less than fair

value in this investigation on October 2, 1995, (60 FR

[[Page 14064]]

52651, October 10, 1995), the following events have occurred:

On October 17, 1995, respondent, Kuraray Co., Ltd. requested that

the final determination be postponed until March 21, 1996. The

Department has determined that such requests contain an implied request

to extend the provisional measures period, during which liquidation is

suspended, to six months (see, Extension of Provisional Measures

memorandum dated February 7, 1996).

On November 20, 1995, the petitioner, Air Products and Chemicals,

Inc., clarified its position that polyvinyl alcohol fiber was not

intended to be within the scope of this investigation.

On February 2, 1996, respondent, Kuraray Co., expressly requested

extension of the four month provisional measures period.

No hearing was requested or held, and no party filed a case brief.

Scope of Investigation

The merchandise under investigation is polyvinyl alcohol. Polyvinyl

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

polymer. This product consists of polyvinyl alcohols hydrolyzed in

excess of 85 percent, whether or not mixed or diluted with defoamer or

boric acid. Excluded from this investigation are 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 polyvinyl 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.

Polyvinyl alcohol in fiber form is not included in the scope of this

investigation.

The merchandise under investigation is currently classifiable under

subheading 3905.30.00 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

For reasons discussed in the preliminary determination, the

Department has, pursuant to section 776 of the Act, used the facts

available. As discussed in the preliminary determination, the

Department used as the facts available the margin in the petition. For

a discussion of the reasons for application of the facts available, and

the selection of the petition margin as the facts available, see Notice

of Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value:

Polyvinyl Alcohol from Japan, 60 FR 52649, 52650 (October 10, 1995).

The Department has not received any comments since the preliminary

determination on its application of facts available.

Fair Value Comparisons

As noted above, as in our preliminary determination, this final

determination has been made using the margin in the petition as the

facts available.

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 the facts available. Therefore, also based on the

facts available, the Department determines the all-others rate to be

77.49 percent.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

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

Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all entries of

polyvinyl alcohol from Japan, that are entered, or withdrawn from

warehouse for consumption, on or after October 10, 1995, the date of

publication of our preliminary determination 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 April 7, 1996, in accordance

with section 733(d) of the Act.

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 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the

ITC of our determination. As our final determination is affirmative,

the ITC will within 45 days determine whether these imports are

materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

If the ITC determines that material injury, or threat of material

injury does not exist, the proceeding will be terminated and all

securities posted will be refunded or canceled. If the ITC determines

that such injury does exist, the Department will issue an antidumping

duty order directing Customs officials to assess antidumping duties on

all imports of the subject merchandise entered, for consumption on or

after the effective date of the suspension of liquidation.

This determination is published pursuant to section 735(d) of the

Act and 19 CFR 353.20(a)(4).

Dated: March 21, 1996.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 96-7635 Filed 3-28-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P