Stainless Steel Bar From India: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[A-533-810]

Stainless Steel Bar From India: Preliminary Results of

Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of antidumping duty

administrative review: Stainless steel bar from India.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is conducting

an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless

steel bar from India in response to a request by one manufacturer/

exporter, Isibars Limited (``Isibars'). This review covers sales of the

subject merchandise to the United States during the period August 4,

1994 through January 31, 1996.

We have preliminarily determined that sales have not been made

below 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 are requested to submit with the

argument (1) a statement of the issue and (2) a brief summary of the

argument.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 7, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Yeske or Zak Smith, Import

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

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C.

20230; telephone (202) 482-0189 or (202) 482-1279, respectively.

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. In addition, unless otherwise

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

current regulations, as amended by the interim regulations published in

the Federal Register on May 11, 1995 (60 FR 25130).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On February 29, 1996, the Department received a request from

Isibars to conduct an administrative review of the antidumping duty

order on stainless steel bar from India. The Department published in

the Federal Register, on March 19, 1996, a notice of initiation of an

administrative review of Isibars covering the period August 4, 1994

through January 31, 1996 (61 FR 11184). In a notice published on August

20, 1996, the Department extended the time limit for the preliminary

results of the review until February 28, 1997 (61 FR 43042). The

Department is now conducting this review in accordance with section 751

of the Act and section 353.22 of its interim regulations.

Scope of Review

Imports covered by this review are shipments of stainless steel bar

(``SSB''). SSB means articles of stainless steel in straight lengths

that have been either hot-rolled, forged, turned, cold-drawn, cold-

rolled or otherwise cold-finished, or ground, having a uniform solid

cross section along their whole length in the shape of circles,

segments of circles, ovals, rectangles (including squares), triangles,

hexagons, octagons, or other convex polygons. SSB includes cold-

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finished SSBs that are turned or ground in straight lengths, whether

produced from hot-rolled bar or from straightened and cut rod or wire,

and reinforcing bars that have indentations, ribs, grooves, or other

deformations produced during the rolling process.

Except as specified above, the term does not include stainless

steel semi-finished products, cut length flat-rolled products (i.e.,

cut length rolled products which if less than 4.75 mm in thickness have

a width measuring at least 10 times the thickness, or if 4.75 mm or

more in thickness having a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at

least twice the thickness), wire (i.e., cold-formed products in coils,

of any uniform solid cross section along their whole length, which do

not conform to the definition of flat-rolled products), and angles,

shapes and sections.

The SSB subject to these orders is currently classifiable under

subheadings 7222.10.0005, 7222.10.0050, 7222.20.0005, 7222.20.0045,

7222.20.0075, and 7222.30.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

United States (``HTSUS'). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided

for convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the

scope of these orders is dispositive.

Period of Review

This review covers one manufacturer/exporter, Isibars, and the

period August 4, 1994 through January 1, 1996.

Verification

As provided in section 782(i) 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 appropriate 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.

United States Price

In calculating United States Price (``USP'), we used export price

(``EP'), in accordance with section 772(a) of the Act, because the

subject merchandise was sold directly to the first unaffiliated

purchaser in the United States prior to importation into the United

States and constructed export price was not otherwise indicated.

We calculated EP based on the price from Isibars to an unaffiliated

customer prior to importation into the United States. In accordance

with section 772(c)(2) of the Act, we made deductions for foreign

inland freight, international freight, and containerization/handling

charges.

Isibars claimed an upward adjustment to USP for a ``duty drawback''

scheme. Under this scheme the Indian government grants import duty

credits equal to a certain percentage of the FOB value of SSB exports.

The amount of the credit is intended to reflect the amount of duties

that would have been paid on the input product, wire rod, had the input

actually been imported. However, there is no requirement that Isibars

actually import the input product, and in fact, Isibars did not import

wire rod during the POR. The import credits can be used to offset

import duties on any products imported by Isibars. It is the

Department's practice to allow an upward adjustment to USP for duty

drawback only if there is a reasonable link between the duties imposed

and those rebated. In this case, there is no such link. Therefore, we

have not made the adjustment.

Normal Value

In order to determine whether there was a sufficient volume of

sales in the home market to serve as a viable basis for calculating NV,

we compared respondent's volume of home market sales of the foreign

like product to the volume of U.S. sales of the subject merchandise, in

accordance with section 773(a) of the Act. Because the aggregate volume

of home market sales of the foreign like product was greater than five

percent of the aggregate volume of U.S. sales of the subject

merchandise, we determined that the home market provides a viable basis

for calculating NV. Therefore, in accordance with section

773(a)(1)(B)(i) of the Act, we based NV on the prices at which the

foreign like product was first sold for consumption in the exporting

country, in the usual commercial quantities, in the ordinary course of

trade and at the same level of trade as the U.S. sales. Isibars

reported, and we verified, no difference in the level of trade between

home market and U.S. sales; therefore, an adjustment pursuant to

section 773(a)(7)(A) is unwarranted.

We compared the EPs of individual transactions, pursuant to section

777A(d)(2) of the Act, to the weighted-average price of contemporaneous

sales of the foreign like product. We based NV on ex-factory prices to

unaffiliated purchasers in the home market. We adjusted for differences

in packing costs between the two markets. We made circumstance-of-sale

adjustments for differences in credit costs and bank charges between

the two markets. Isibars reported that it paid commissions in the home

market, but not the U.S. market. We have not adjusted for the home

market commissions, however, because Isibars failed to report the U.S.

indirect selling expenses which would be used to offset the home market

commissions.

Preliminary Results of the Review

As a result of our comparison of EP and NV, we preliminarily

determine that the following weighted-average dumping margin exists:

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Manufacturer/exporter Period Margin

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Isibars..................................... 8/4/94-1/1/96 0.00

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Parties to the proceeding may request disclosure within five days

of the date of publication of this notice. Any interested party may

request a hearing within 10 days of publication. Any hearing, if

requested, will be held 34 days after the publication of this notice,

or the first workday thereafter. Interested parties may submit case

briefs within 20 days of the date of publication of this notice.

Rebuttal briefs, which must be limited to issues raised in the case

briefs, may be filed not later than 27 days after the date of

publication of this notice. Parties who submit argument are requested

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

brief summary of the argument. The Department will issue the final

results of this administrative review, which will include the results

of its analysis of issues raised in any such comments, within 120 days

of publication of these preliminary results.

Upon completion of this administrative review, the Department will

issue appraisement instructions directly to the Customs Service. The

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

antidumping duties on entries of merchandise sold during the POR and

covered by the determination and for future deposits of estimated

duties.

The following deposit requirement will be effective upon

publication of the final results of this antidumping duty

administrative review for all shipments of stainless steel bar from

India entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after

the publication date, as provided for by section 751(a)(1) of the Act:

(1) The cash deposit rate for the reviewed company will be the rate

established in the final results of this review; (2) if the exporter is

not a firm covered in this review, but was covered in a previous review

or the original less-than-fair-value (``LTFV'') investigation, the cash

deposit rate will

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continue to be the company-specific rate published for the most recent

period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a

previous review, or the original LTFV investigation, but the

manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be the rate established for

the most recent period for the manufacturer of the merchandise; and (4)

the cash deposit rate for all other manufacturers and/or exporters of

this merchandise, shall be 12.45 percent, the ``all others'' rate

established in the LTFV investigation (59 FR 66915, December 28, 1994).

These requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until

publication of the final results of the next administrative review.

This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of

their responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 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 administrative review and notice are in accordance with

section 751(a)(1) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1)) and 19 CFR

353.22(c).

Dated: February 28, 1997.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 97-5701 Filed 3-6-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P