Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless Steel Wire Rod from Germany

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-428-824]

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

Stainless Steel Wire Rod from Germany

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 29, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Smith or Everett Kelly, Office

of AD/CVD Enforcement, Import Administration, International Trade

Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-

1766 or (202) 482-4194.

The Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of

1930, as amended (``the Act''), are references to the provisions

effective January 1, 1995, the effective date of the amendments made to

the Act by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (``URAA''). In addition,

unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Department of

Commerce's (``Department'') regulations are to the regulations at 19

CFR Part 351 (62 FR 27296, May 19, 1997).

Final Determination

We determine that stainless steel wire rod (``SSWR'') from Germany

is being sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''),

as provided in section 735 of the Act. The estimated margins of sales

at LTFV are shown in the ``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation''

section of this notice.

Case History

On February 25, 1998, we issued our preliminary determination in

this investigation (63 FR 10847, March 5, 1998) (``Notice of

Preliminary Determination'').

On March 10, 1998, at the request of Krupp Edestahlprofile GmbH and

Krupp Hoesch Steel Products Inc. (collectively ``Krupp''), producers/

exporters of the subject merchandise, the Department postponed the

final determination to 135 days after the publication of the

Department's preliminary determination (see Notice of Postponement of

Final Antidumping Determination (63 FR 13082, March 17, 1998)).

We received no case briefs or other written comments from

interested parties in this investigation.

Scope of Investigation

For purposes of this investigation, SSWR comprises products that

are hot-rolled or hot-rolled annealed and/or pickled and/or descaled

rounds, squares, octagons, hexagons or other shapes, in coils, that may

also be coated with a lubricant containing copper, lime or oxalate.

SSWR is made of alloy steels containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less

of carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other

elements. These products are manufactured only by hot-rolling or hot-

rolling, annealing, and/or pickling and/or descaling, are normally sold

in coiled form, and are of solid cross-section. The majority of SSWR

sold in the United States is round in cross-sectional shape, annealed

and pickled, and later cold-finished into stainless steel wire or

small-diameter bar.

The most common size for such products is 5.5 millimeters or 0.217

inches in diameter, which represents the smallest size that normally is

produced on a rolling mill and is the size that most wire-drawing

machines are set up to draw. The range of SSWR sizes normally sold in

the United States is between 0.20 inches and 1.312 inches in diameter.

Two stainless steel grades, SF20T and K-M35FL, are excluded from the

scope of the investigation. The chemical makeup for the excluded grades

is as follows:

SF20T

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

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

Carbon.................................... 0.05 max.

Manganese................................. 2.00 max.

Phosphorous............................... 0.05 max.

Sulfur.................................... 0.15 max.

Silicon................................... 1.00 max.

Chromium.................................. 19.00/21.00.

Molybdenum................................ 1.50/2.50.

Lead added................................ (0.10/0.30).

Tellurium added........................... (0.03 min).

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

K-M35FL

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

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

Carbon.................................... 0.015 max.

Silicon................................... 0.70/1.00.

Manganese................................. 0.40 max.

Phosphorous............................... 0.04 max.

Sulfur.................................... 0.03 max.

Nickel.................................... 0.30 max.

Chromium.................................. 12.50/14.00.

Lead...................................... 0.10/0.30.

Aluminum.................................. 0.20/0.35.

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

The products under investigation are currently classifiable under

subheadings 7221.00.0005, 7221.00.0015, 7221.00.0030, 7221.00.0045, and

7221.00.0075 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

(``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for

convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope

of this investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation (``POI'') is July 1, 1996 through June

30, 1997.

Facts Available

In its preliminary determination, the Department found that both

Krupp and BGH Edelstahl Freital GmbH (``BGH Edelstahl'') failed to

cooperate to the best of their ability in this investigation, as they

refused to respond to the Department's antidumping questionnaire (see

Notice of Preliminary Determination). Accordingly, the Department based

the antidumping margin for these companies on facts otherwise available

and assigned them the highest margin from the petition (as adjusted by

the Department), 21.28 percent. In making its preliminary

determination, the Department corroborated the information contained in

the petition within the meaning of section 776(c) of the Act, to the

extent possible, and found the information to have probative value.

Since the preliminary determination, no party (including Krupp and BGH

Edelstahl) has presented to the Department any information to challenge

the appropriateness of using the information contained in the petition

as facts available in determining the dumping margin for Krupp and BGH

Edelstahl. Accordingly, for the final determination, we continue to

assign Krupp and BGH Edelstahl the highest margin from the petition (as

adjusted by the Department), 21.28 percent.

The All-Others Rate

As discussed in the Notice of Preliminary Determination, we based

the all-others rate on a simple average of the margins in the petition

(as adjusted by the Department), 19.45 percent. Section 735(c)(5) of

the Act provides that where the dumping margins established for all

exporters and producers individually investigated are determined

entirely under section 776, the Department ``. . . may use any

reasonable method to establish the estimated all-others rate for

exporters and producers not individually investigated, including

averaging the estimated weighted average dumping margins determined for

the exporters and producers individually investigated.'' This provision

contemplates that we weight average the facts-available margins to

establish the

[[Page 40434]]

all-others rate. Where the data is not available to weight average the

facts available rates, the Statement of Administrative Action

accompanying the URAA, H.R. Rep. No. 103-316, (``SAA''), at 873,

provides that we may use other reasonable methods. Inasmuch as we do

not have the data necessary to weight average the respondents' facts

available margins, we are continuing to base the all-others rate on a

simple average of the margins in the petition (as adjusted by the

Department), 19.45 percent.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 735(c)(4)(A) of the Act, we are

directing the Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all

entries of stainless steel wire rod from Germany, as defined in the

``Scope of Investigation'' section of this notice, that are entered, or

withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after March 5, 1998,

the date of publication of our preliminary determination in the Federal

Register. For these entries, the Customs Service will 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. This suspension

of liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.

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

Margin

MFR/Producer/Exporter percentage

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

Krupp Edelstahlprofile GmbH, Krupp Hoesch Steel Products 21.28

BGH Edelstahl Freital GmbH.............................. 21.28

All-Others.............................................. 19.45

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

The all-others rate applies to all entries of subject merchandise

except for the entries of merchandise produced by the exporters/

manufacturers listed above.

ITC Notification

In accordance with section 735(d) of the Act, we have notified the

International Trade Commission (``ITC'') of our determination. As our

final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine whether

these imports are causing material injury, or threat of material

injury, to the industry within 45 days of its receipt of this

notification.

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, or withdrawn from

warehouse, for consumption on or after the effective date of the

suspension of liquidation.

This determination is published pursuant to section 777(i) of the

Act.

Dated: July 20, 1998.

Joseph A. Spetrini,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-20019 Filed 7-28-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P