Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-475-822]

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

Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 31, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lesley Stagliano or Rick Johnson,

Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0190 or (202) 482-3818,

respectively.

Applicable Statute and Regulations

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

(``Department'') regulations are to the regulations at 19 CFR part 351

(1998).

Final Determination

We determine that Stainless Steel Plate in Coils (``SSPC'') from

Italy is being sold in the United States at less than fair value

(``LTFV''), as provided in section 735 of the Act. The estimated

margins are shown in the Suspension of Liquidation section of this

notice.

Case History

The preliminary determination in this investigation was published

on November 4, 1998 (see Notice of Preliminary Determination of Sales

at Less Than Fair Value: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy, 63

FR 59530 (November 4, 1998) (``Preliminary Determination'')). On

November 16, 1998, Acciai Speciali Terni SpA (``AST'') requested a

postponement of the final determination to 135 days after publication

of the Preliminary Determination and an extension of the provisional

measures to no more than six months, pursuant to section 735(a)(2)(A)

of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(2)(ii) and 351.210(e)(2). Because our

Preliminary Determination was affirmative, and AST is a producer/

exporter that accounts for a significant proportion of exports from

Italy of the subject merchandise, the Department postponed the final

determination until March 19, 1999. Notice of postponement was

published in the Federal Register on December 18, 1998. See

Postponement of Final Antidumping Determinations: Stainless Steel Plate

in Coils from Canada, Italy, Republic of Korea, South Africa and

Taiwan, 63 FR 70101. No interested parties have provided comments on

the Preliminary Determination and no request for a hearing has been

received by the Department.

Scope of Investigation

For purposes of this investigation, the product covered is certain

stainless steel plate in coils. Stainless steel is an alloy steel

containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less of carbon and 10.5 percent

or more of chromium, with or without other elements. The subject plate

products are flat-rolled products, 254 mm or over in width and 4.75 mm

or more in thickness, in coils, and annealed or otherwise heat treated

and pickled or otherwise descaled. The subject plate may also be

further processed (e.g., cold-rolled, polished, etc.) provided that it

maintains the specified dimensions of plate following such processing.

Excluded from the scope of this investigation are the following: (1)

Plate not in coils, (2) plate that is not annealed or otherwise heat

treated and pickled or otherwise descaled, (3) sheet and strip, and (4)

flat bars.

The merchandise subject to this investigation is currently

classifiable in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

(HTSUS) at subheadings: 7219.11.00.30, 7219.11.00.60, 7219.12.00.05,

7219.12.00.20, 7219.12.00.25, 7219.12.00.50, 7219.12.00.55,

7219.12.00.65, 7219.12.00.70, 7219.12.00.80, 7219.31.00.10,

7219.90.00.10, 7219.90.00.20, 7219.90.00.25, 7219.90.00.60,

7219.90.00.80, 7220.11.00.00, 7220.20.10.10, 7220.20.10.15,

7220.20.10.60, 7220.20.10.80, 7220.20.60.05, 7220.20.60.10,

7220.20.60.15, 7220.20.60.60, 7220.20.60.80, 7220.90.00.10,

7220.90.00.15, 7220.90.00.60, and 7220.90.00.80. Although the HTSUS

subheadings are provided for convenience and Customs purposes, the

written description of the merchandise under investigation is

dispositive.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation (``POI'') is January 1 through December

31, 1997.

Facts Available

Section 776(a)(2) of the Act provides that if an interested party

or any other person (A) withholds information that has been requested

by the administering authority; (B) fails to provide such information

by the deadlines for the submission of the information or in the form

and manner requested, subject to subsections (c)(1) and (e) of section

782 of the Act; (C) significantly impedes a proceeding under the

antidumping statute; or (D) provides such information but the

information cannot be verified as provided in section 782(i) of the

Act, the administering authority shall, subject to section 782(d) of

the Act, use the facts otherwise available in reaching the applicable

determination. As discussed above, AST failed to respond to the

Department's questionnaire. Accordingly, as in the Preliminary

Determination, we have determined,

[[Page 15459]]

under section 776(a)(2)(A) of the Act, that we must base our

determination for that company on the facts available.

Section 776(b) of the Act further provides that adverse inferences

may be used for a party that has failed to cooperate by not acting to

the best of its ability to comply with a request for information (see

also the Statement of Administrative Action (``SAA''), accompanying the

URAA, H. Doc. No. 316, 103rd Cong., 2d Sess. 870). Given its refusal to

comply with the Department's request for information, AST has failed to

cooperate to the best of its ability in this investigation. Therefore,

the Department has determined that an adverse inference is warranted

with respect to AST. As in the Preliminary Determination, the

Department selected a margin of 45.09 percent, which was based on the

highest margin alleged in the petition for any Italian producer. As

discussed in the Preliminary Determination, the Department has, to the

extent practicable, corroborated the information used as adverse facts

available. Furthermore, no record evidence or argument has been

submitted that would cause the Department to call into question the

accuracy of the data in the petition. Therefore, we determine that the

use of this margin as facts available for AST is appropriate.

For further discussion regarding the Department's use, and

selection, of facts available for AST in this investigation, see

Preliminary Determination, 63 FR at 59531-32.

The All Others Rate

The foreign manufacturer/exporter in this investigation is being

assigned a dumping margin entirely on the basis of facts otherwise

available. Section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act provides that, where the

dumping margins established for all exporters and producers

individually investigated are determined entirely under section 776 of

the Act, the Department may use any reasonable method to establish the

estimated All Others rate for exporters and producers not individually

investigated, including weight averaging zero and de minimis rates with

the margins based on facts available. In this case, the margin assigned

to the only company investigated is based on adverse facts available.

Therefore, as stated in the Preliminary Determination, and consistent

with the SAA at 873, we are using an alternative method. As our

alternative, we are basing the All Others rate on a simple average of

the margins in the petition, based both on price-to-price comparisons

and constructed value. As a result, the All Others rate is 39.69

percent.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(1) and 735(c)(4)(A) of the Act,

we are directing the U.S. Customs Service (``Customs'') to continue to

suspend liquidation of all entries of SSPC from Italy, that are

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

November 4, 1998 (the date of publication of the Preliminary

Determination in the Federal Register). We will instruct Customs to

require a cash deposit or the posting of a bond equal to the percentage

margins, as indicated in the chart below. These suspension-of-

liquidation instructions will remain in effect until further notice.

The dumping margins are as follows:

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

Margin

Exporter/manufacturer percentage

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

Acciai Speciali Terni SpA (AST)............................ 45.09%

All Others................................................. 39.69%

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

The All Others rate, which we derived from the average of the

margins calculated in the petition, applies to all entries of subject

merchandise other than those exported by the named respondent.

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, within 45 days, determine

whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material

injury to, the U.S. industry. 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 issued and published in accordance with

sections 735(d) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.

Dated: March 19, 1999.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

[FR Doc. 99-7535 Filed 3-30-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P