Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 38 / Monday, February 27, 1995 / Notices 10563

Schedule of the United States

(‘‘HTSUS’’). Although the HTSUS

subheading is provided for convenience

and Customs purposes, our written

description of the scope of this

investigation is dispositive.

Period of Investigation

The period of investigation (‘‘POI’’) is

September 1, 1993, through February

28, 1994.

Case History

Since our preliminary determination

(50 FR 50561, October 4, 1994) the

following events have occurred. On

October 14, 1994 the respondents

requested a postponement of the final

determination. This request was granted

(59 FR 56461, November 14, 1994), and

the final was postponed by the

Department until no later than February

16, 1995. On January 23, 1995, both

parties submitted case briefs. On

January 23, 1995 petitioner submitted

its rebuttal brief.

Best Information Available

In accordance with section 776(c) of

the Act, we have determined that the

use of best information available (BIA)

is appropriate for all companies. Given

that neither of the two named

companies responded to the

Department’s questionnaire, we find

that no respondents have cooperated in

this investigation.

The Department’s usual practice

under these circumstances would be to

assign respondents the highest margin

alleged in the petition as BIA. See Final

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Antifriction Bearings (Other

Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts

Thereof From the Federal Republic of

Germany (54 FR 19033, May 3, 1989). In

this case, however, a fundamental flaw

in the petition calculation methodology

has led the Department to reject the use

of the highest margin alleged in the

petition as BIA. Unlike the other Certain

Carbon Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings

investigations, petitioner was unable to

obtain U.S. price quotes for purposes of

the initiation. Rather, U.S. price was

based upon an average of U.S. Customs

import statistics which did not take into

account the relationship between the

size of the fitting and its value per

pound. Moreover, there is no record

information which would allow us to

make this adjustment to USP. Therefore,

we have weight averaged the FMVs of

all size fittings in the petition, and

compared that average FMV to the

average customs U.S. import value in

the petition. This yields a single margin

for use as BIA of 203.63%. This margin

will be assigned to each of the

respondents. (See, Memorandum on File

Dated: February 16, 1995).

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(1)

(19 U.S.C. 1673b(d)(1)) of the Act, we

are directing the U.S. Customs Service

to continue to suspend liquidation of all

entries of certain carbon butt-weld pipe

fittings from Venezuela, as defined in

the ‘‘Scope of Investigation’’ section of

this notice, that are entered, or

withdrawn from warehouse, for

consumption on or after the date of

publication of this notice in the Federal

Register. The Customs Service shall

require a cash deposit or posting of a

bond equal to the estimated margin

amount by which the foreign market

value of the subject merchandise

exceeds the United States price as

shown below. The suspension of

liquidation will remain in effect until

further notice.

Manufacturer/producer/exporter

Weighted

average

margin

percent

All Companies .............................. 203.63

International Trade Commission (ITC)

Notification

In accordance with section 735(d) of

the Act, we have notified the ITC of our

determination. As our final

determination is affirmative, the ITC

will determine whether imports of the

subject merchandise are materially

injuring, or threaten material injury to,

the U.S. industry within 45 days.

If the ITC determines that material

injury or threat of material injury does

not exist, the proceedings will be

terminated and all securities posted as

a result of the suspension of liquidation

will be refunded or cancelled. However,

if the ITC determines that such injury

does exist, we will issue an

antidumping duty order directing

Customs officers to assess an

antidumping duty on certain carbon

steel butt-weld pipe fittings from

Venezuela entered or withdrawn from

warehouse, for consumption on or after

the date of suspension of liquidation.

Notification to Interested Parties

This notice serves as the only

reminder to parties subject to

administrative protective order (APO) in

this investigation of their responsibility

covering the return or destruction of

proprietary information disclosed under

APO in accordance with 19 CFR

353.34(d). Failure to comply is a

violation of the APO.

This determination is published

pursuant to section 735(d) of the Act (19

U.S.C. 1673d(d)) and 19 CFR

353.20(a)(4).

Dated: February 16, 1995.

Barbara R. Stafford,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Import

Administration.

[FR Doc. 95–4722 Filed 2–24–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

[A–821–807]

Notice of Amended Preliminary

Determination of Sales at Less Than

Fair Value: Antidumping Duty

Investigation of Ferrovanadium and

Nitrided Vanadium From the Russian

Federation

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 27, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Louis Apple or David J. Goldberger,

Office of Antidumping Investigations,

Import Administration, International

Trade Administration, U.S. Department

of Commerce, 14th Street and

Constitution Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C., 20230; telephone

(202) 482–1769 or (202) 482–4136.

Applicable Statute and Regulations

Unless otherwise indicated, all

citations to the statute and to the

Department’s regulations are references

to the provisions as they existed on

December 31, 1994. References to

Antidumping and Countervailing

Duties: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

and Request for Public Comments, 57

FR 1131 (January 10, 1992) (Proposed

Regulations), are provided solely for

further explanation of the Department’s

AD practice with respect to amended

preliminary determinations. Although,

the Department has withdrawn the

particular rulemaking proceeding

pursuant to which the Proposed

Regulations were issued, the subject

matter of these regulations is being

considered in connection with an

ongoing rulemaking proceeding which,

among other things, is intended to

conform the Department’s regulations to

the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

See 60 FR 80 (January 3, 1995).

Scope of Investigation

This investigation covers

ferrovanadium and nitrided vanadium.

The scope is fully described in the

preliminary determination.

Case History

On December 27, 1994, the

Department of Commerce (the

Department) made its affirmative
10564 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 38 / Monday, February 27, 1995 / Notices

preliminary determination of sales at

less than fair value in the above-cited

investigation (60 FR 438, January 4,

1995).

On January 11, 1995, the petitioner

alleged that the Department made a

significant ministerial error in the

preliminary determination in the abovementioned investigation and requested

that the Department correct this

ministerial error accordingly.

In its submission, the petitioner

alleged that the Department made a

ministerial error in its calculation of the

foreign market value (FMV) for SC

Vanadium-Tulachermet (Tulachermet).

This FMV was used for comparison to

sales made by both Tulachermet and

Odermet, Ltd. The petitioner’s

allegation deals with the valuation of

vanadium slag, the principal raw

material used to produce the subject

merchandise.

On January 19, 1995, the Department

received comments from Odermet, Ltd.

and Tulachermet in response to the

petitioner’s January 11, 1995 letter

regarding a ministerial error. Odermet

submitted additional comments on

January 26, 1995. However, standard

Department practice with respect to

preliminary determinations, does ‘‘not

permit parties to comment on another

party’s allegations of significant

ministerial errors’’. (See the

Department’s Proposed Rules 57 FR

1133 (January 10, 1992). Any party

objecting to the Department’s

amendment, will have the opportunity

to present its arguments in its

administrative case briefs and at the

hearing.

On January 23, 1995, the Department

determined that the petitioner’s

allegation regarding the ministerial error

in our calculation of FMV for

Tulachermet, requires correction in an

amended preliminary determination

(See January 23, 1995, Memorandum

from Gary Taverman to Barbara R.

Stafford).

Amendment of Preliminary

Determination

The Department does not normally

amend preliminary determinations

since these determinations are only

estimated margins subject to verification

and may change for the final

determination. It is, however, the

Department’s practice to amend

preliminary determinations in those

instances involving a significant

ministerial error. (See Amendment to

Preliminary Determination of Sales at

Less Than Fair Value: Fresh Cut Roses

From Columbia, 59 FR 51554, 51555

(October 12, 1994) (Roses); and

Amendment to Preliminary

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair

Value: Sweaters Wholly or in Chief

Weight of Man-Made Fiber from Hong

Kong, 55 FR 19289–90 (May 9, 1990)).

The Department has defined

‘‘significant ministerial errors’’ as those

unintentional errors which result in a

change of the estimated margin of at

least 5 absolute percentage points but

not less than 25 percent of the

calculated margin. See Roses. In this

case, these criteria have been met.

In its questionnaire response,

Tulachermet reported its consumption

of vanadium slag, the principal input

used to produce the intermediate

product vanadium pentoxide, on the

basis of net vanadium content. The

Department used as a surrogate value a

price quote for vanadium slag expressed

in terms of net vanadium pentoxide

content. The petitioner alleges that the

Department made a significant

ministerial error in not converting the

consumption factor or surrogate value to

reflect the different basis of the

surrogate value to the factor consumed.

The Department agrees with

petitioner that the reported factor

should have been adjusted to a

vanadium pentoxide basis. The

Department did not intend to apply a

surrogate value to consumption factor

expressed in an incompatible unit of

measure. Furthermore, correcting this

ministerial error will result in a change

in the estimated margin of greater than

5 absolute percentage points and greater

than 25 percent of the original estimated

margin. Therefore, pursuant to the

Department’s practice, the error

constitutes a significant ministerial error

and the Department is amending the

preliminary determination accordingly.

The calculations have been corrected by

applying the methodology from the

petition for converting the consumption

factor for vanadium slag from units of

net vanadium content to units of net

vanadium pentoxide content. The

recalculation affects the margin

percentage for Tulachermet, Odermet,

and the all others rate for non-Russian

exporters.

Suspension of Liquidation

In accordance with section 733(d)(2)

of the Act, the Department will direct

the U.S. Customs Service to continue to

require cash deposit or posting of bond

on all entries of subject merchandise

from the Russian Federation at the

newly calculated rates, that are entered,

or withdrawn from warehouse, for

consumption on or after the date of the

original preliminary determination

publication notice in the Federal

Register (60 FR 438, January 4, 1995).

The suspension-of-liquidation will

remain in effect until further notice.

The revised estimated margins are as

follows:

Manufacturer/Producer/Exporter

Weighted

average

margin

percent

All exporters located in Russia including SC VanadiumTulachermet .............................. 94.92

Galt Alloys, Inc. ............................ 40.46

Gesellschaft fu ̈r Elektrometallurgie

m.b.H./Shieldalloy Metallurgical

Corporation/Metallurg, Inc. ....... 49.18

Marc Rich Co., AG/Glencore

International AG ........................ 108.00

Odermet, Ltd. ............................... 60.09

Wogan Resources, Ltd. ................ 108.00

All others not located in Russia ... 82.29

ITC Notification

In accordance with section 733(f) of

the Act, we have notified the

International Trade Commission (ITC) of

the amended preliminary

determination. If our final

determination is affirmative, the ITC

will determine whether imports of the

subject merchandise are materially

injuring, or threaten material injury to,

the U.S. industry, before the later of 120

days after the date of the original

preliminary determination (December

27, 1995) or 45 days after our final

determination.

Public Comment

Public hearings in this proceeding

will be held to afford interested parties

an opportunity to comment on

arguments raised in case or rebuttal

briefs. The tentative schedule for the

case briefs, rebuttal briefs, and hearings

for this proceeding is described in the

preliminary determination. We will

make our final determination by May

19, 1995.

Dated: February 17, 1995.

Susan G. Esserman,

Assistant Secretary for Import

Administration.

[FR Doc. 95–4728 Filed 2–24–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

[C–533–812]

Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty

Determination: Certain Carbon Steel

Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From India

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 27, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan M. Strumbel, Office of