Silicon Metal From The People's Republic of China; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-570-806]

Silicon Metal From The People's Republic of China; Preliminary

Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of the antidumping duty

administrative review of silicon metal from the People's Republic of

China.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an

administrative review of the antidumping duty order on silicon metal

from the People's Republic of China (PRC) in response to a request by a

United States importer, Midland Exports, Ltd. This review covers

shipments of this merchandise to the United States during the period

June 1, 1996 through May 31, 1997.

We have preliminarily determined that sales have been made below

normal value (NV). If these preliminary results are adopted in our

final results, we will instruct the U.S. Customs Service to assess

antidumping duties based on the difference between export price and NV.

Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary

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

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

argument.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 10, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gideon Katz or Maureen Flannery,

Antidumping/Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Import Administration,

International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th

Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington DC. 20230; telephone

(202) 482-4733.

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 provisions

codified at 19 CFR part 353, as they existed on April 1, 1996.

Background

The Department published in the Federal Register an antidumping

duty order on silicon metal from the PRC on June 10, 1991 (56 FR

26649). On June 11, 1997, the Department published in the Federal

Register (62 FR 31786) a notice of opportunity to request an

administrative review of the antidumping order on silicon metal from

the PRC covering the period June 1, 1996 through May 31, 1997.

On June 28, 1997, in accordance with 19 CFR 353.2(k)(1), Midland

Exports, Ltd., a U.S. importer of the subject merchandise, requested

that we conduct an administrative review of Shaanxi Machinery &

Equipment Corporation (Shaanxi) and Hinan Peng-Hua National Industries,

Corporation (Hinan). We published a notice of initiation of this

antidumping duty administrative review on August 1, 1997 (62 FR 41339).

The Department is conducting this administrative review in accordance

with section 751 of the Act.

Scope of Review

Imports covered by this review are shipments of silicon metal

containing at least 96.00 but less than 99.99 percent of silicon by

weight. Also covered by this review is silicon metal from the PRC

containing between 89.00 and 96.00 percent silicon by weight but which

contains a higher aluminum content than the silicon metal containing at

least 96.00 percent but less than 99.99 percent silicon by weight.

Silicon metal is currently provided for under subheadings 2804.69.10

and 2804.69.50 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) as a chemical

product, but is commonly referred to as a metal. Semiconductor-grade

silicon (silicon metal containing by weight not less than 99.99 percent

of silicon and provided for in subheading 2804.61.00 of the HTS) is not

subject to this review. Although the HTS subheadings are provided for

convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the

merchandise is dispositive.

This review covers the period June 1, 1996 through May 31, 1997.

Facts Available

We preliminarily determine that, in accordance with section 776(a)

of the Act, the use of facts available is appropriate for Shaanxi and

Hinan because these firms did not respond to the Department's

antidumping questionnaire. Because necessary information is not

available on the record with regard to sales by these two firms, the

use of facts available is warranted.

Where a respondent has failed to cooperate to the best of its

ability, section 776(b) of the Act authorizes the Department to use

facts available that are adverse to the interests of that respondent,

which may include information derived from the petition, the final

determination, a previous administrative review, or other information

placed on the record. As facts available, we are using the rate from

the petition, as adjusted by the Department in the investigation of

sales at less than fair value (LTFV), 139.49 percent.

Section 776(c) of the Act provides that when the Department relies

on ``secondary information,'' the Department shall, to the extent

practicable, corroborate that information with independent sources

reasonably at the Department's disposal. That Statement of

Administrative Action (SAA) accompanying the URAA clarifies that the

petition is ``secondary information.'' See SAA at 870. The SAA also

clarifies that ``corroborate'' means to determine whether the

information used has probative value. Id. In accordance with this

requirement, we corroborated the margin in the petition, to the extent

practicable. (See Corroboration Memorandum from Gideon Katz to Edward

Yang, March 2, 1998, on file in Room B-099 of the Commerce Department.)

Preliminary Results of Review

We preliminarily determine that the following dumping margin

exists:

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

Margin

Manufacturer/exporter Time period (percent)

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

PRC rate.................................. 6/1/96-5/31/97 139.49

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Parties to the proceeding may request disclosure within 5 days of

the date of publication of this notice in accordance with 19 CFR

353.22(c)(6). Any interested party may request a hearing within 10 days

of publication in accordance with 19 CFR 353.38(b). 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

[[Page 11655]]

within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice in accordance

with 19 CFR 353.38(c). 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 this notice.

The Department shall determine, and the U.S. 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 rate will be effective upon

publication of the final results of this administrative review for all

shipments of silicon metal from the PRC 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 all PRC exporters will be the PRC-wide rate established in the

final results of this administrative review; and(2) the cash deposit

rates for non-PRC exporters and subject merchandise from the PRC will

be the rates applicable to the PRC supplier of that exporter.

These deposit rates, 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.

Dated: March 2, 1998.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 98-6148 Filed 3-9-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P