[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 99 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29421-29423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11900]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A-570-996]
Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's Republic of
China: Preliminary Affirmative Determinations of Sales at Less Than
Fair Value and Critical Circumstances
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily
determines that non-oriented electrical steel (NOES) from the People's
Republic of China (the PRC) is being, or is likely to be, sold to the
United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in section
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The period of
investigation (POI) is January 1, 2013, through June 30, 2013. The
dumping margin is shown in the ``Preliminary Determination and
Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice. Interested parties
are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.
DATES: Effective May 22, 2014.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sandra Dreisonstok or Yang Jin Chun,
AD/CVD Operations, Office I, Enforcement and Compliance, International
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
0768 and (202) 482-5760, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Scope of the Investigation
The merchandise subject to this investigation consists of non-
oriented electrical steel (NOES), which includes cold-rolled, flat-
rolled, alloy steel products, whether or not in coils, regardless of
width, having an actual thickness of 0.20 mm or more, in which the core
loss is substantially equal in any direction of magnetization in the
plane of the material. The term ``substantially equal'' means that the
cross grain direction of core loss is no more than 1.5 times the
straight grain direction (i.e., the rolling direction) of core loss.
NOES has a magnetic permeability that does not exceed 1.65 Tesla when
tested at a field of 800 A/m (equivalent to 10 Oersteds) along (i.e.,
parallel to) the rolling direction of the sheet (i.e., B800
value). NOES contains by weight more than 1.00 percent of silicon but
less than 3.5 percent of silicon, not more than 0.08 percent of carbon,
and not more than 1.5 percent of aluminum. NOES has a surface oxide
coating, to which an insulation coating may be applied.
NOES is subject to this investigation whether it is fully processed
(i.e., fully annealed to develop final magnetic properties) or semi-
processed (i.e., finished to final thickness and physical form but not
fully annealed to develop final magnetic properties). Fully processed
NOES is typically made to the requirements of ASTM specification A 677,
Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) specification C 2552, and/or
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specification 60404-8-
4. Semi-processed NOES is typically made to the requirements of ASTM
specification A 683. However, the scope of this investigation is not
limited to merchandise meeting the ASTM, JIS and IEC specifications
noted immediately above.
NOES is sometimes referred to as cold-rolled non-oriented (CRNO),
non-grain oriented (NGO), non-oriented (NO), or cold-rolled non-grain
oriented (CRNGO) electrical steel. These terms are interchangeable.
Excluded from the scope of this investigation are flat-rolled
products not in coils that, prior to importation into the United
States, have been cut to a shape and undergone all punching, coating,
or other operations necessary for classification in Chapter 85 of the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) as a part
(i.e., lamination) for use in a device such as a motor, generator, or
transformer.
The subject merchandise is provided for in subheadings
7225.19.0000, 7226.19.1000, and 7226.19.9000 of the HTSUS. Subject
merchandise may also be entered under subheadings 7225.50.8085,
7225.99.0090, 7226.92.5000, 7226.92.7050, 7226.92.8050, 7226.99.0180 of
the HTSUS. Although HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and
customs purposes, the written description of the scope is dispositive.
Scope Comments
For a complete discussion of scope comments received from
interested parties and changes the Department made to the scope of the
investigation, see Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\1\ The ``Scope of
the
[[Page 29422]]
Investigation'' section above reflects all changes.
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\1\ See Memorandum from Senior Advisor Gary Taverman to Acting
Assistant Secretary Ronald K. Lorentzen entitled ``Decision
Memorandum for the Preliminary Determination in the Less Than Fair
Value Investigation of Non-Oriented Electrical Steel from the
People's Republic of China'' dated concurrently with this notice and
hereby adopted by this notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum).
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Postponement of the Preliminary Determination
On February 28, 2014, AK Steel Corporation (the petitioner) made a
timely request for a 50-day postponement of the preliminary
determinations for this and the other concurrent NOES LTFV
investigations, pursuant to section 733(c)(1)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR
351.205(b)(2) and (e).\2\ On March 5, 2014, we published our notice of
postponement of the preliminary determinations by 50 days in accordance
with sections 733(c)(1)(A) and (2) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(f).\3\
As a result of the postponement, the revised deadline for the
preliminary determination of this investigation is now May 15, 2014.
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\2\ See letter from the petitioner to the Secretary of Commerce,
``Non-Oriented Electrical Steel from the People's Republic of China,
Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Taiwan: Request
for Postponement of the Preliminary Determinations,'' dated February
28, 2014.
\3\ See Non-Oriented Electrical Steel from the People's Republic
of China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Taiwan:
Postponement of Preliminary Determinations of Antidumping Duty
Investigations, 79 FR 13987 (March 12, 2014).
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Methodology
The Department conducted this LTFV investigation in accordance with
section 731 of the Act. Because none of the potential respondents in
this investigation submitted separate rate applications, they are
considered to be part of the PRC-wide entity. Because the PRC-wide
entity did not provide necessary quantity-and-value data the Department
requested, the PRC-wide entity failed to cooperate by not acting to the
best of its ability. Therefore, the Department is assigning to the PRC-
wide entity a rate based on facts available with an adverse
inference.\4\ For further information, see the ``Application of Adverse
Facts Available'' section in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.\5\
The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file
electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (IA ACCESS).
IA ACCESS is available to registered users at http://iaaccess.trade.gov, and is available to all parties in the Central
Records Unit, room 7046 of the main Department of Commerce building. In
addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can
be accessed directly on the Internet at http://www.trade.gov/enforcement/. The signed Preliminary Decision Memorandum and the
electronic versions of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum are
identical in content.
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\4\ See sections 776(a) and (b) of the Act.
\5\ See Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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Critical Circumstances
On March 6, 2014, the petitioner alleged that critical
circumstances exist with respect to imports of NOES from the PRC. In
accordance with 19 CFR 351.206(c)(2)(i), because the critical
circumstances allegation was submitted more than 20 days before the
scheduled date of the preliminary determination, the Department must
issue a preliminary critical circumstances determination not later than
the date of the preliminary determination.\6\
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\6\ See, e.g., Change in Policy Regarding Timing of Issuance of
Critical Circumstances Determinations, 63 FR 55364 (October 15,
1998).
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In accordance with section 733(e)(1) of the Act, we preliminarily
find critical circumstances exist with respect to the PRC-wide entity
in this investigation. For a full discussion of our preliminary
critical circumstances determination, see the ``Critical
Circumstances'' section of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
Preliminary Determination and Suspension of Liquidation
The Department preliminarily assigns the PRC-wide entity a rate of
407.52 percent as an adverse facts available rate. As described above,
the Department found that critical circumstances exist with respect to
the PRC-wide entity. Furthermore, consistent with our practice, where
the product under investigation is also subject to a concurrent
countervailing duty investigation, we instruct U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) to require a cash deposit equal to the amount by which
the normal value exceeds the export price or constructed export price,
less the amount of the countervailing duty determined to constitute an
export subsidy. In this LTFV investigation, with regard to PRC-wide
entity, export subsidies constitute 1.57 percent \7\ of the
preliminarily calculated countervailing duty rate in the concurrent
countervailing duty investigation, and, thus, we will offset the PRC-
wide rate of 407.52 percent by the countervailing duty rate
attributable to export subsidies (i.e., 1.57 percent) to calculate the
cash deposit rate for this LTFV investigation. In accordance with
sections 733(e)(2)(A) of the Act, we will direct CBP to suspend
liquidation of all entries of NOES from the PRC that are entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date 90 days
prior to the date of publication of this notice in the Federal
Register, and to require a cash deposit for such entries.
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\7\ The following subsidy programs in the preliminary
determination of the concurrent countervailing duty investigation
are export subsidies: Preferential Export Financing from the Export-
Import Bank of China (1.06 percent) and Tax Refunds for Reinvestment
of FIE Profits in Export-Oriented Enterprises (0.51 percent). See
Non-Oriented Electrical Steel From the People's Republic of China:
Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination,
Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, and
Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination With Final
Antidumping Duty Determination, 79 FR 16293 (March 25, 2014), and
the accompanying Preliminary Decision Memorandum at 12-13.
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Disclosure and Public Comment
Because the Department has reached its conclusions on the basis of
adverse facts available, the calculations performed in connection with
this preliminary determination are not proprietary in nature, and are
described in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. Case briefs may be
submitted to IA ACCESS no later than 30 days after the publication of
this preliminary determination in the Federal Register, and rebuttal
briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be submitted no
later than five days after the deadline date for case briefs.\8\
Rebuttal briefs may respond only to arguments raised in case briefs and
should identify the arguments to which it is responding.\9\ For any
briefs filed on scope issues, parties must file separate and identical
documents on each of the records for all of the concurrent LTFV and
countervailing duty investigations. Parties who submit arguments are
requested to submit with the argument: (1) A statement of the issue;
(2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of
authorities.\10\
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\8\ See 19 CFR 351.309.
\9\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2).
\10\ See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2).
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Interested parties who wish to request a hearing, or to participate
if one is requested, must submit a written request using IA ACCESS
within 30 days after the publication of this preliminary determination
in the Federal Register.\11\ An electronically filed hearing request
must be received successfully in its entirety by IA ACCESS by 5:00 p.m.
Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this
notice.\12\ Hearing requests should contain the party's name, address,
and telephone number; the number of participants; and a list of the
issues to be discussed. If a hearing
[[Page 29423]]
request is submitted, the Department intends to hold the hearing at the
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230, at a date and time to be determined. Parties will
be notified of the date and time of any hearing.
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\11\ See 19 CFR 351.310(c).
\12\ Id.
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U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Notification
In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, we have notified the
ITC of our preliminary affirmative determination of sales at LTFV.
Because the preliminary determination in this proceeding is
affirmative, section 735(b)(2) of the Act requires that the ITC make
its final determination as to whether the domestic industry in the
United States is materially injured, or threatened with material
injury, by reason of imports of NOES from the PRC before the later of
120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days
after our final determination.
This determination is issued and published in accordance with
sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(c).
Dated: May 15, 2014.
Ronald K. Lorentzen,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Appendix--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision
Memorandum
1. Summary
2. Background
3. Period of Investigation
4. Scope Comments
5. Scope of the Investigation
6. PRC-Wide Entity
7. Application of Adverse Facts Available
8. Rate for the PRC-Wide Entity
9. Corroboration
10. Critical Circumstances
11. Recommendation
[FR Doc. 2014-11900 Filed 5-21-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P