Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished or Unfinished, From Romania; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-485-602]

Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished or

Unfinished, From Romania; Preliminary Results of Antidumping

Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of Antidumping Duty

Administrative Review.

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

SUMMARY: In response to requests by the petitioner, The Timken Company

(``Timken''), and the respondent, Tehnoimportexport, S.A. (``TIE''),

the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is conducting an

administrative review of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller

bearings and parts thereof, finished or unfinished (``TRBs''), from

Romania. The review covers shipments of the subject merchandise to the

United States during the period June 1, 1996, through May 31, 1997.

Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary

results. Parties who submit arguments are requested to submit with each

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

argument.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 6, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Blozy or Rick Johnson, Office

of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Import

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

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

20230; telephone: (202) 482-0374 or (202) 482-0165.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicable Statute

Unless otherwise indicated, all citations to the Tariff Act of

1930, as amended (the Act), are 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's regulations are to 19 CFR

Part 353, as they existed on April 1, 1996.

Background

On June 19, 1987, the Department published in the Federal Register

(52 FR 23320) the antidumping duty order on TRBs from Romania. On June

11, 1997, the Department published in the Federal Register (62 FR

31786, 31787) a notice of opportunity to request an administrative

review of this antidumping duty order. On June 30, 1997, the Department

received requests from the petitioner and the respondent to conduct an

administrative review of TIE. On August 1, 1997, in accordance with 19

CFR 353.22(c), we published the notice of initiation of this

antidumping administrative review in the Federal Register (62 FR

41340).

Scope of This Review

Imports covered by this review are shipments of TRBs from Romania.

These products include flange, take-up cartridge, and hanger units

incorporating tapered roller bearings, and tapered roller housings

(except pillow blocks) incorporating tapered rollers, with or without

spindles, whether or not for automotive use. This merchandise is

currently classifiable

[[Page 11218]]

under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) item numbers 8482.20.00,

8482.91.00, 8482.99.30, 8483.20.40, 8483.30.40, and 8483.90.20.

Although the HTS item numbers are provided for convenience and Customs

purposes, the written description of the scope of this order remains

dispositive.

Separate Rates

To establish whether a company is sufficiently independent to be

entitled to a separate rate, the Department analyzes each exporting

entity under the test established in the Final Determination of Sales

at Less Than Fair Value: Sparklers from the People's Republic of China,

56 FR 20588 (May 6, 1991) (``Sparklers''), as amplified by the Final

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Silicon Carbide from

the People's Republic of China, 59 FR 22585 (May 2, 1994) (``Silicon

Carbide''). Under this policy, exporters in non-market-economy

(``NME'') countries are entitled to separate, company-specific margins

when they can demonstrate an absence of government control, both in law

and in fact, with respect to exports. Evidence supporting, though not

requiring, a finding of de jure absence of government control includes:

(1) an absence of restrictive stipulations associated with an

individual exporter's business and export licenses; (2) any legislative

enactments decentralizing control of companies; and (3) any other

formal measures by the government decentralizing control of companies.

De facto absence of government control with respect to exports is based

on four criteria: (1) whether the export prices are set by or subject

to the approval of a government authority; (2) whether each exporter

retains the proceeds from its sales and makes independent decisions

regarding the disposition of profits or financing of losses; (3)

whether each exporter has autonomy in making decisions regarding the

selection of management; and (4) whether each exporter has the

authority to negotiate and sign contracts.

We have found that the evidence on the record demonstrates an

absence of government control, both in law and in fact, with respect to

TIE according to the criteria established in Sparklers and Silicon

Carbide. For a further discussion of the Department's preliminary

determination that TIE is entitled to a separate rate, see Memorandum

to Edward Yang, Director, Office IX, AD/CVD Enforcement, Import

Administration, dated March 2, 1998: Antidumping Administrative Review

of Tapered Roller Bearings from Romania: Assignment of a Separate Rate

for Tehnoimportexport, S.A. in the 1996/97 review, which is on file in

the Central Records Unit (room B099 of the Main Commerce Building).

Export Price

For sales made by TIE, the Department used export price, in

accordance with section 772(a) of the Act, in calculating U.S. price.

We calculated export price based on the price to unrelated purchasers.

We made adjustments, where appropriate, for foreign inland freight and

ocean freight. We used surrogate information from Indonesia to value

foreign inland freight for reasons explained in the ``Normal Value''

section of this notice.

Normal Value

For merchandise exported from an NME country, section 773(c)(1) of

the Act provides that the Department shall determine Normal Value

(``NV'') using factors of production methodology if available

information does not permit the calculation of NV using home market or

third country prices under section 773(a) of the Act. In every case

conducted by the Department involving Romania, Romania has been treated

as an NME country. None of the parties to this proceeding has contested

such treatment in this review. Accordingly, we calculated NV in

accordance with section 773(c) of the Act and 19 CFR 353.52. In

accordance with section 773(c)(3) of the Act, the factors of production

utilized in producing TRBs include, but are not limited to (a) hours of

labor required, (b) quantities of raw materials employed, (c) amounts

of energy and other utilities consumed, and (d) representative capital

cost, including depreciation. In accordance with section 773(c)(4) of

the Act, the Department valued the factors of production, to the extent

possible, using the prices or costs of factors of production in a

market economy country that is (a) at a level of economic development

comparable to that of Romania, and (b) a significant producer of

comparable merchandise.

We determined that Indonesia is at a level of economic development

comparable to that of Romania. We also found that Indonesia is a

producer of bearings. Therefore, we have selected Indonesia as the

surrogate country. For a further discussion of the Department's

selection of a surrogate country, see Memorandum to the File:

Antidumping Administrative Review of Tapered Roller Bearings from

Romania: Selection of a Surrogate Country in the 1996/97 Review, dated

March 2, 1998, which is on file in the Central Records Unit (room B099

of the Main Commerce Building).

For purposes of calculating NV, we valued the Romanian factors of

production as follows:

When materials used to produce TRBs were imported into

Romania from market economy countries, we used the import price to

value the material input. To value all other direct materials used in

the production of TRBs, we used the import value per metric ton of

these materials into Indonesia as published in the Indonesian Foreign

Trade Statistical Bulletin--Imports and adjusted, as appropriate, with

the wholesale price index inflator to place these values on an

equivalent basis for the period of review (``POR''). With two

exceptions, the data used for all material inputs was taken from the

period January 1996 through December 1996. For cold-rolled sheet for

cages, the only available data was from the period January 1995 through

November 1995, and for hot-rolled steel bars, the only available data

was from the period January 1996 through February 1996. Additionally,

for hot-rolled rods, we adjusted the material input value to exclude

imports into Indonesia of insignificant quantities and imports from

known non-producers of bearing quality steel. For transportation

distances used for the calculation of freight expenses on raw

materials, we added to surrogate values from Indonesia a surrogate

freight cost using the shorter of (a) the distance between the closest

Indonesian port and the factory, or (b) the distance between the actual

supplier and the factory. See Notice of Final Determination of Sales at

Less Than Fair Value: Collated Roofing Nails From the People's Republic

of China, 62 FR 51410 (October 1, 1997). We used freight rates obtained

from a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia to the

Department for use in the preliminary determination of the antidumping

duty investigation of Certain Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from

the People's Republic of China, dated September 9, 1991.

For direct labor, we used the Indonesian average daily

wages and hours worked per week for the iron and steel basic industries

reported in the 1994 Special Supplement to the Bulletin of Labour

Statistics, published by the International Labour Office. For indirect

labor, we used the supervisory labor rates used in the Final

Determination of Sales at Less than Fair Value; Disposable Pocket

Lighters from the People's Republic of China, 60 FR 22359 (May 5,

1995), which were calculated based on information contained in Doing

Business in Indonesia (1991).

[[Page 11219]]

This rate is not industry-specific but, rather, represents a general

estimate of supervisory labor in Indonesia. We have adjusted these

wages, based on the wholesale price index inflator, for the POR.

For factory overhead, selling, general and administrative

expenses, and profit, we could not find values for the bearings

industry in Indonesia. Therefore, we used a publicly available 1996

financial statement of P.T. Jaya Pari Steel Ltd, an Indonesian producer

engaged in the iron and steel making industry, an industry comparable

to TRBs, which was recently used in the Final Results of Antidumping

Duty Administrative Reviews; Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered

Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan,

Romania, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, 62 FR 54043 (October

17, 1997).

To value packing materials, when materials used to package

TRBs were imported into Romania from market-economy countries, we used

the import prices to value the material input. To value all other

packing materials, we used the import value per metric ton of these

materials for the period January 1996 through December 1996 (and

adjusted with the wholesale price index inflator to place these values

on an equivalent basis for the POR), as published in the Indonesian

Foreign Trade Statistical Bulletin--Imports. We adjusted these values

to include freight costs incurred using the shorter of (a) the distance

between the closest Indonesian port and the factory, or (b) the

distance between the actual supplier and the factory.

To value foreign inland freight, we used freight rates

obtained from a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, as

indicated above. For a complete description of these adjustments, see

TIE Analysis Memorandum for the Preliminary Results, dated March 2,

1998, at pg. 1.

Currency Conversion

We made currency conversions in accordance with Section 773A(a) of

the Act. For currency conversions involving the Indonesian Rupiah, we

used exchange rates published by the International Monetary Fund in

International Financial Statistics. For all other conversions, we used

daily exchange rates published by the Federal Reserve.

Preliminary Results of the Review

As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine that the

following margin exists:

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

Margin

Exporter Time period (percent)

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

Tehnoimportexport, S.A.................... 6/1/96-5/31/97 0.86

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

Parties to the proceeding may request disclosure within 5 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 44 days after the publication of this notice,

or the first workday thereafter. Interested parties may submit case

briefs within 30 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 37 days after the date of

publication. The Department will publish a notice of final results of

this administrative review, which will include the results of its

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

the date of publication of these preliminary results.

The Department shall determine, and the Customs Service shall

assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. The Department

will issue appraisement instructions directly to the U.S. Customs

Service.

Furthermore, the following deposit requirements will be effective

upon publication of the final results of this administrative review for

all shipments of TRBs from Romania entered, or withdrawn from

warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date, as

provided for by section 751(a)(2)(c) of the Act: (1) The cash deposit

rate for TIE will be the rate we determine in the final results of

review; (2) for all other Romanian exporters, the cash deposit rate

will be the Romania-wide rate made effective by the amended final

results of the 1994-95 administrative review (see Tapered Roller

Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished or Unfinished, from Romania;

Amendment of Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review,

61 FR 59416 (November 22, 1996)); (3) for non-Romanian exporters of

subject merchandise from Romania, the cash deposit rate will be the

rate applicable to the Romanian supplier of that exporter. These

deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until

publication of the final results of the next administrative review.

This notice serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of their

responsibility under 19 CFR 353.26 of the Department's regulations 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.

Dated: March 2, 1998.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-5865 Filed 3-5-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P