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[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 145 (Wednesday, July 29, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40433-40434]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20019]

[[Page 40433]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration
[A-428-824]

Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: 
Stainless Steel Wire Rod from Germany

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 29, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Smith or Everett Kelly, Office 
of AD/CVD Enforcement, Import Administration, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-
1766 or (202) 482-4194.

The Applicable Statute

    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's (``Department'') regulations are to the regulations at 19 
CFR Part 351 (62 FR 27296, May 19, 1997).

Final Determination

    We determine that stainless steel wire rod (``SSWR'') from Germany 
is being sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), 
as provided in section 735 of the Act. The estimated margins of sales 
at LTFV are shown in the ``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation'' 
section of this notice.

Case History

    On February 25, 1998, we issued our preliminary determination in 
this investigation (63 FR 10847, March 5, 1998) (``Notice of 
Preliminary Determination'').
    On March 10, 1998, at the request of Krupp Edestahlprofile GmbH and 
Krupp Hoesch Steel Products Inc. (collectively ``Krupp''), producers/
exporters of the subject merchandise, the Department postponed the 
final determination to 135 days after the publication of the 
Department's preliminary determination (see Notice of Postponement of 
Final Antidumping Determination (63 FR 13082, March 17, 1998)).
    We received no case briefs or other written comments from 
interested parties in this investigation.

Scope of Investigation

    For purposes of this investigation, SSWR comprises products that 
are hot-rolled or hot-rolled annealed and/or pickled and/or descaled 
rounds, squares, octagons, hexagons or other shapes, in coils, that may 
also be coated with a lubricant containing copper, lime or oxalate. 
SSWR is made of alloy steels containing, by weight, 1.2 percent or less 
of carbon and 10.5 percent or more of chromium, with or without other 
elements. These products are manufactured only by hot-rolling or hot-
rolling, annealing, and/or pickling and/or descaling, are normally sold 
in coiled form, and are of solid cross-section. The majority of SSWR 
sold in the United States is round in cross-sectional shape, annealed 
and pickled, and later cold-finished into stainless steel wire or 
small-diameter bar.
    The most common size for such products is 5.5 millimeters or 0.217 
inches in diameter, which represents the smallest size that normally is 
produced on a rolling mill and is the size that most wire-drawing 
machines are set up to draw. The range of SSWR sizes normally sold in 
the United States is between 0.20 inches and 1.312 inches in diameter. 
Two stainless steel grades, SF20T and K-M35FL, are excluded from the 
scope of the investigation. The chemical makeup for the excluded grades 
is as follows:

                                  SF20T                                 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carbon....................................  0.05 max.                   
Manganese.................................  2.00 max.                   
Phosphorous...............................  0.05 max.                   
Sulfur....................................  0.15 max.                   
Silicon...................................  1.00 max.                   
Chromium..................................  19.00/21.00.                
Molybdenum................................  1.50/2.50.                  
Lead added................................  (0.10/0.30).                
Tellurium added...........................  (0.03 min).                 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                 K-M35FL                                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carbon....................................  0.015 max.                  
Silicon...................................  0.70/1.00.                  
Manganese.................................  0.40 max.                   
Phosphorous...............................  0.04 max.                   
Sulfur....................................  0.03 max.                   
Nickel....................................  0.30 max.                   
Chromium..................................  12.50/14.00.                
Lead......................................  0.10/0.30.                  
Aluminum..................................  0.20/0.35.                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The products under investigation are currently classifiable under 
subheadings 7221.00.0005, 7221.00.0015, 7221.00.0030, 7221.00.0045, and 
7221.00.0075 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(``HTSUS''). Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes, the written description of the scope 
of this investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

    The period of investigation (``POI'') is July 1, 1996 through June 
30, 1997.

Facts Available

    In its preliminary determination, the Department found that both 
Krupp and BGH Edelstahl Freital GmbH (``BGH Edelstahl'') failed to 
cooperate to the best of their ability in this investigation, as they 
refused to respond to the Department's antidumping questionnaire (see 
Notice of Preliminary Determination). Accordingly, the Department based 
the antidumping margin for these companies on facts otherwise available 
and assigned them the highest margin from the petition (as adjusted by 
the Department), 21.28 percent. In making its preliminary 
determination, the Department corroborated the information contained in 
the petition within the meaning of section 776(c) of the Act, to the 
extent possible, and found the information to have probative value. 
Since the preliminary determination, no party (including Krupp and BGH 
Edelstahl) has presented to the Department any information to challenge 
the appropriateness of using the information contained in the petition 
as facts available in determining the dumping margin for Krupp and BGH 
Edelstahl. Accordingly, for the final determination, we continue to 
assign Krupp and BGH Edelstahl the highest margin from the petition (as 
adjusted by the Department), 21.28 percent.

The All-Others Rate

    As discussed in the Notice of Preliminary Determination, we based 
the all-others rate on a simple average of the margins in the petition 
(as adjusted by the Department), 19.45 percent. Section 735(c)(5) of 
the Act provides that where the dumping margins established for all 
exporters and producers individually investigated are determined 
entirely under section 776, the Department ``. . . may use any 
reasonable method to establish the estimated all-others rate for 
exporters and producers not individually investigated, including 
averaging the estimated weighted average dumping margins determined for 
the exporters and producers individually investigated.'' This provision 
contemplates that we weight average the facts-available margins to 
establish the

[[Page 40434]]

all-others rate. Where the data is not available to weight average the 
facts available rates, the Statement of Administrative Action 
accompanying the URAA, H.R. Rep. No. 103-316, (``SAA''), at 873, 
provides that we may use other reasonable methods. Inasmuch as we do 
not have the data necessary to weight average the respondents' facts 
available margins, we are continuing to base the all-others rate on a 
simple average of the margins in the petition (as adjusted by the 
Department), 19.45 percent.

Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation

    In accordance with section 735(c)(4)(A) of the Act, we are 
directing the Customs Service to continue to suspend liquidation of all 
entries of stainless steel wire rod from Germany, as defined in the 
``Scope of Investigation'' section of this notice, that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after March 5, 1998, 
the date of publication of our preliminary determination in the Federal 
Register. For these entries, the Customs Service will require a cash 
deposit or posting of a bond equal to the estimated amount by which the 
normal value exceeds the export price as shown below. This suspension 
of liquidation will remain in effect until further notice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Margin    
                  MFR/Producer/Exporter                     percentage  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Krupp Edelstahlprofile GmbH, Krupp Hoesch Steel Products           21.28
BGH Edelstahl Freital GmbH..............................           21.28
All-Others..............................................           19.45
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The all-others rate applies to all entries of subject merchandise 
except for the entries of merchandise produced by the exporters/
manufacturers listed above.

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 determine whether 
these imports are causing material injury, or threat of material 
injury, to the industry within 45 days of its receipt of this 
notification.
    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 published pursuant to section 777(i) of the 
Act.

    Dated: July 20, 1998.
Joseph A. Spetrini,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 98-20019 Filed 7-28-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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