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 $12.35/pound for the relevant period, as appropriate. On the basis

of this price, the export quota for uranium pursuant to Section IV.B.

of the Kazakstani agreement, as amended on March 27, 1995, is 500,000

pounds for the period October 1, 1997, through March 31, 1998. This

price will also be used, as appropriate, according to Section 2.A. of

the Uzbek agreement, as amended. The quota for the next relevant period

for Uzbekistan, October 13, 1997-October 12, 1998, will be announced

separately due to the fact that this quota will now be based on a

production-tied quota, in accordance with Section 3.A. of that

agreement.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karla Whalen or Cindy Sonmez, Office

of Antidumping Countervailing Duty Enforcement--Group III, Import

Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of

Commerce, 14th Street & Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230;

telephone: (202) 482-0408 or (202) 482-0961, 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 determined market price on October 1, 1997,

and use it to determine the quota applicable to imports from Kazakstan

during the period October 1, 1997, to March 31, 1998, and Uzbekistan

during the period of October 13, 1997 to October 12, 1998. Consistent

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

provided interested parties with the preliminary price determination on

September 17, 1997.

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 2.46 percent, which was derived

from a rolling average of the annual GDP Implicit Price Deflator index

from the past four years. The Department then calculated weight-

averaged annual prices according to the specified nominal delivery

volumes for each year to arrive at the long-term contract price. The

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

and the long-term

[[Page 53808]]

contract 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 1993-1996. During this period, the spot

market accounted for 79.31 percent of total purchases, and the long-

term market for 20.69 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 1993 through

1996. The EIA has withheld certain business proprietary contract data

from the public versions of the Uranium Industry Annual 1993, Uranium

Industry Annual 1994, Uranium Industry Annual 1995 and the Uranium

Industry Annual 1996. The EIA, however, provided all business

proprietary data to the Department and the Department has used it to

update its weighting calculation.

Calculation Announcement

The Department determined, using the methodology and information

described above, that the observed market price is $12.35. This

reflects an average spot market price of $11.51, weighted at 79.31

percent, and an average long-term contract price of $15.54, weighted at

20.69 percent. The increase in the observed market price from our

preliminary determination reflects the addition of one contract, as

discussed below, and revised calculation methodology. Since this price

is between $12.00/pound and $13.99/pound as defined in Appendix A of

the suspension agreement with Kazakstan, as amended, Kazakstan receives

a quota of 1,000,000 pounds for the period October 1, 1997, to

September 30, 1998. This price will also be used, as appropriate,

according to Section 2.A. of the Uzbek agreement.

Comments

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

the Department provided interested parties the preliminary price

determination for this period on September 17, 1997. One interested

party submitted comments.

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

Miners) requested that the Department include Uzbekistan in the price

calculation.

Department's Position: The Department agrees with the Miners and on

September 29, 1997, placed the price calculation on the Uzbek record

and served counsel. (See Memo to the File from Cindy Sonmez, September

29, 1997.)

Comment 2: The Miners indicated that the Department failed to

include an additional U.S. Base Price Indicator month in its

calculations of long-term price.

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

has included the relevant month under the ``UPIS Indicators'' section.

Further, in accordance with our practice, the Department simple-

averaged the relevant months, and this change has been reflected on the

``Simple Average of UPIS and Contract Price.''

Comment 3: The Miners requested the Department to collect more

information on the reported prices of certain contracts to ascertain

that the contract prices do not reflect unusual sale circumstances.

Department's Position: The Department reviewed these contracts and

removed one contract from its long-term price calculations as it was a

duplicate. The Department also confirmed with the submitting party that

the reported contract prices used in our price calculations are

accurate.

Comment 4: Petitioners request that the Department weight-average

the price on multi-year contracts according to yearly delivery volumes.

Department's Position: The Department agrees with petitioners and

has adjusted our long-term contract price methodology accordingly. In

order to arrive at the contract price, the Department derived weighted-

average price factors for each year of the contract period and added

each individual factor. The Department calculated the weighted-average

price factor by multiplying the deflated price for each contract year

by the nominal volume of the contract year over the total nominal

volume of the contract.

Dated: October 6, 1997.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping Countervailing Duty--Group

III.

[FR Doc. 97-27472 Filed 10-15-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P