69 FR 74 pgs. 20597-20599 - Pure Magnesium from Canada; Preliminary Results of AntidumpingDuty Administrative Review and Preliminary Partial Rescission ofReview
Type: NOTICEVolume: 69Number: 74Pages: 20597 - 20599
Docket number: A-122-814
FR document: [FR Doc. 04-8691 Filed 4-15-04; 8:45 am]
Agency: Commerce Department
Sub Agency: International Trade Administration
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
A-122-814
Pure Magnesium from Canada; Preliminary Results of AntidumpingDuty Administrative Review and Preliminary Partial Rescission ofReview
AGENCY:
Import Administration, International TradeAdministration, Department of Commerce.
ACTION:
Notice of Preliminary Results of the2002-2003 Administrative Review.
SUMMARY:
In response to requests from interested parties,the Department of Commerce is conducting an administrative review of theantidumping duty order on pure magnesium from Canada with respect to NorskHydro Canada Inc. The period of review is August 1, 2002 through July 31,2003.
We preliminarily find that, during the period of review, sales of puremagnesium from Canada were not made below normal value. If thesepreliminary results are adopted in our final results, we will instruct theU.S. Customs and Border Protection not to assess antidumping duties. Weinvite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results. We willissue the final results not later than 120 days from the date ofpublication of this notice.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
April 16, 2004.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Julie Santoboni orScott Holland, Import Administration, International Trade Administration,U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW,Washington DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-4194 or (202)482-1279, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On August 31, 1992, the Department of Commerce ("theDepartment") published in the Federal Register (57 FR39390) an antidumping duty order on pure magnesium from Canada. On August1, 2003, the Department published a notice in the FederalRegister of the opportunity for interested parties to request anadministrative review of the antidumping duty order on pure magnesium fromCanada. See Notice of Opportunity to Request AdministrativeReview of Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or SuspendInvestigation (68 FR 45218). On August 26, 2003, U.S. Magnesium, LLC("the petitioner") requested an administrative review ofimports of the subject merchandise produced by Norsk Hydro Canada, Inc.("NHCI") and Magnola Metallurgy Inc. ("Magnola"),both Canadian exporters/producers of the subject merchandise.
On September 2, 2003, Magnola reported that it had no shipments ofsubject merchandise to the United States during the August 1, 2002, throughJuly 31, 2003, period of review ("POR"). See"Partial Rescission" section, below.
On September 3, 2003, NHCI requested that the Department reject thepetitioner's request for administrative review because the submissionfailed to meet the minimal requirements as described in 19 CFR351.213(b)(1). On October 1, 2003, we determined that the petitioner'sreview request sufficiently met the Department's requirements pursuant to19 CFR 351.213(b)(1). See the October 1, 2003, memorandum toSusan Kuhbach, "Petitioner's Request for Initiation in the 2002/2003Antidumping Administrative Review," which is on file in theDepartment's Central Records Unit ("CRU").
In accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(b)(1), we published a notice ofinitiation of this antidumping duty administrative review on September 30,2003, with respect to NHCI and Magnola. See Notice of Initiationof Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, Request forRevocation in Part and Deferral of Administrative Review , (68 FR56262).
On October 9, 2003, the Department issued an antidumping dutyquestionnaire to NHCI. On November 21, 2003, we received NHCI'squestionnaire response. We issued a supplemental questionnaire to NHCI onJanuary 9, 2004, and received the response on February 6, 2004.
On December 11, 2003, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.301(d)(2)(ii), thepetitioner filed an allegation that NHCI had made sales below the cost ofproduction ("COP") during the POR. NHCI submitted objectionsto the allegation in December 2003, and January and February 2004. Thepetitioner filed responses to NHCI's objections in December 2003 andJanuary 2004. We found that the petitioner did not provide a reasonablebasis to believe or suspect that NHCI sold pure magnesium in the homemarket at prices below the COP during the POR. See theFebruary 18, 2004, memorandum to Susan Kuhbach, "Allegation of SalesBelow Cost of Production." Accordingly, we did not initiate asales-below-COP investigation.
Scope of the Order
The merchandise covered by this review is pure magnesium. Pureunwrought magnesium contains at least 99.8 percent magnesium by weight andis sold in various slab and ingot formsnd sizes. Granular and secondarymagnesium are excluded from the scope currently classifiableunder subheading 8104.11.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Scheduleof the United States ("HTSUS"). Although the HTSUSsubheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, our writtendescription of the scope of this proceeding is dispositive.
Partial Rescission
In accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), we are preliminarily rescindingthis review with respect to Magnola, which reported that it made noshipments of subject merchandise during this POR. We examined shipmentdata furnished by U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP")and are satisfied that the record does not indicate that there were U.S.shipments of subject merchandise from Magnola during the POR.
Fair Value Comparisons
To determine whether sales of pure magnesium by NHCI to the UnitedStates were made at less than normal value ("NV"), we compared,as appropriate, export price ("EP"), to NV, as described in the" Export Price " and " NormalValue " sections below. In accordance with 19 CFR 351.414(c)(2),we compared individual EPs to weighted-average NVs, which werecalculated in accordance with section 777A(d)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930,as amended ("the Act").
Product Comparisons
In accordance with section 771(16) of the Act, we considered allproducts produced and sold by NHCI in the home market during the POR thatfit the description in the "Scope of the Order" section of thisnotice to be foreign like products for purposes of determining appropriateproduct comparisons to U.S. sales. We compared U.S. sales to sales ofidentical merchandise in the home market made in the ordinary course oftrade. To determine the appropriate product comparisons, we considered thefollowing physical characteristics of the products: ASTM specificationcode, purity, format, size and grade.
Export Price
For sales to the United States, we used EP, as defined in section 772(a)of the Act, because the merchandise was sold directly to the firstunaffiliated purchaser in the United States prior to importation. The useof constructed export prices was not warranted based on the facts of therecord. EP was based on the packed price to unaffiliated purchasers in theUnited States. We made deductions, consistent with section 772(c)(2)(A) ofthe Act, for the following movement expenses: inland freight from theplant to the distribution warehouse; pre-sale warehousing expense;inland freight from the distribution warehouse to the unaffiliatedcustomer; and foreign brokerage and handling.
Normal Value
A. Home Market Viability
In order to determine whether there was a sufficient volume of sales ofpure magnesium in the home market to serve as a viable basis forcalculating NV, we compared NHCI's volume of home market sales of theforeign like product to the volume of U.S. sales of the subjectmerchandise, in accordance with section 773(a) of the Act. Because theaggregate volume of home market sales of the foreign like product wasgreater than five percent of the respective aggregate volume of U.S. salesfor the subject merchandise, we determined that the home market provided aviable basis for calculating NV. Therefore, in accordance with section773(a)(1)(B)(i) of the Act, we based NV on the prices at which the foreignlike product was first sold for consumption in the exporting country, inthe usual commercial quantities and in the ordinary course of trade.
We calculated NV based on the price to unaffiliated customers in thehome market. We adjusted the starting price for billing adjustments, whereappropriate. We made adjustments, consistent with section 773(a)(6)(B)(ii)of the Act, for the following movement expenses: inland freight from theplant to the distribution warehouse; warehousing expense; and inlandfreight from the plant/warehouse to the customer. In addition, we madeadjustments for differences in circumstances of sale ("COS") inaccordance with 773(a)(6)(C)(iii) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.410. We madeCOS adjustments by deducting direct selling expenses incurred on homemarket sales (credit expenses) and adding U.S. direct selling expenses(credit expenses). We also deducted home market packing costs and addedU.S. packing costs in accordance with sections 773(a)(6)(A) and (B) of theAct. We disregarded two home market sales that were made outside theordinary course of trade, consistent with section 771(15) of the Act and 19CFR 351.102, because either the sale was made for non-commercialpurposes or the sale was a sample sale that was not made in substantialquantities. See February 6, 2004, Supplemental QuestionnaireResponse submitted by NHCI.
Currency Conversion
We made currency conversions into U.S. dollars in accordance withsection 773A(a) of the Act based on the exchange rates in effect on thedates of the U.S. sales as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank.
Preliminary Results of the Review
As a result of this review, we preliminarily find that NHCI's percentageweighted-average margin for the period August 1, 2002, through July31, 2003, is 0.01 percent, de minimis .
Assessment Rates and Cash Deposit Requirements
Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.212(b), the Department calculates an assessmentrate for each importer of the subject merchandise. Upon issuance of thefinal results of this administrative review, if any importer-specificassessment rates calculated in the final results are above deminimis ( i.e. , at or above 0.5 percent), the Departmentwill issue appraisement instructions directly to CBP to assess antidumpingduties on appropriate entries by applying the assessment rate to theentered value of the merchandise. For assessment purposes, we calculateimporter-specific assessment rates for the subject merchandise byaggregating the dumping duties due for all U.S. sales to each importer anddividing the amount by the total entered value of the sales to thatimporter.
Pending the final disposition of a NAFTA panel review, the Departmentwill not order the liquidation of entries of pure magnesium from Canadaexported by NHCI on or after August 1, 2000, at thistime.1Liquidation will occur following the finaljudgement in the NAFTA panel appeals process.
Footnotes:
1 See January 28, 2003, letter fromthe Department granting NHCI's October 23, 2002, request for thecontinuation of suspension of liquidation covering all unliquidated entriesof subject merchandise exported by NHCI on or after August 1,2000.
The following deposit requirements will be effective upon completion ofthe final results of this administrative review for all shipments of puremagnesium from Canada entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumptionon or after the publication date of the final results of thisadministrative review, as provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Act: (1)the cash deposit rate for the reviewed company will be the rate establishedin the final results of this administrative review (except no cash depositwill be required for the company if its weighted-average margin is de minimis, i.e. , less than 0.5 percent); (2) for merchandiseexported by manufacturers or exporters not covered in this review butcovered in the original less-than-fair-value investigation or aprevious review, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the most recentrate published in the final determination or final results for which themanufacturer or exporter received an individual rate; (3) if the exporteris not a firm covered in this review, the previous review, or the originalinvestigation, but the manufacturer is, the cash deposit rate will be therate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of themerchandise; and (4) if neither the exporter nor the manufacturer is a firmcovered in this or any previous reviews, the cash deposit rate will be 21percent, the "all others" rate established on November 29,1993, in Pure Magnesium from Canada; Amendment of FinalDetermination of Sales At Less Than Fair Value and Order in Accordance WithDecision on Remand (58 FR 62643)
Public Comment
Any interested party may request a hearing within 30 days of publicationof this notice. A hearing, if requested, will be held 37 days after thepublication of this notice, or the first business day thereafter.Interested parties may submit case briefs within 30 days of the date ofpublication of this notice. Rebuttal briefs, which must be limited toissues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than 35 days afterthe date of publication of this notice. The Department will issue thefinal results of this administrative review, which will include the resultsof its analysis of issues raised in any such comments, within 120 days ofpublication of the preliminary results.
Notification to Importers
This notice also serves as a preliminary reminder to importers of theirresponsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f) to file a certificate regarding thereimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevantentries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirementcould result in the Secretary's presumption that reimbursement ofantidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of doubleantidumping duties.
We are issuing and publishing these results in accordance with sections751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act.
Dated: April 9, 2004.
James J. Jochum,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-8691 Filed 4-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S