(Cite as: 54 FR 46442)
NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[C-469-004]
Stainless Steel Wire Rod From Spain; Preliminary Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review
Friday, November 3, 1989
AGENCY: International Trade Administration/Import Administration, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of preliminary results of countervailing duty administrative review.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce has conducted an administrative review of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel wire rod from Spain. We preliminarily determine the net subsidy for the period January 1, 1988, through December 31, 1988, to be 0.19 percent ad valorem, a rate we consider de minimis. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 3, 1989.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Goldman or Paul McGarr, Office of Countervailing Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 377-2786.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On June 28, 1989, the Department of Commerce ("the Department") published in the Federal Register (54 FR 26826) the final results of its last administrative review of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel wire rod from Spain (48 FR 52; January 3, 1983). On January 31, 1989, a Spanish exporter, Roldan S.A., requested an administrative review of the order in accordance with section 355.22 of the Commerce Regulations published in the Federal Register on December 27, 1988 (55 FR 52354) (to be codified at 19 CFR 355.22). We published the initiation on March 8, 1989 (54 FR 9868). The Department has now conducted that administrative review in accordance with section 751 of the Tariff Act of 1930 ("the Tariff Act").
Scope of Review
Imports covered by the review are shipments of Spanish stainless steel wire rod, which includes coiled, semifinished, hot-rolled stainless steel products of approximately round solid cross section, not under 0.20 inch nor over 0.74 inch in diameter, whether or not tempered or treated or partly manufactured. During the review period, such merchandise was classifiable under item numbers 607.2600 and 607.4300 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States Annotated. This merchandise is currently classifiable under item numbers 7221.00.0020 and 7221.00.0040 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
The review covers the period January 1, 1988 through December 31, 1988 and five programs.
Analysis of Programs
Under the Concerted Action Program established by Royal Decree 669/74, the Spanish government directs banks to make long-term loans to steel companies at below market rates. Such loans are provided for approximately ten years. Roldan received a long-term loan for financing new plant and equipment that had an outstanding balance during the review period. The loan was received in multiple disbursements from 1977 to 1981. Because the loans under the Concerted Action Program are provided to a specific industry at rates and terms inconsistent with commercial considerations, we preliminarily determine that this loan confers a countervailable domestic subsidy.
Roldan did not obtain any comparable commercial loans in the year in which it received the preferential long-term loan. Therefore, we used as our long-term commercial benchmark the "free" long-term (three or more years) lending rate published by the Bank of Spain in its Boletin Estatistico. We treated the multiple disbursements as individual loans.
To calculate the benefit, we found the difference between the annual amounts of principal and interest Roldan actually paid and the annual amounts of principal and interest Roldan would have paid if it had received each disbursement at our commercial benchmark rate. We then calculated the "grant equivalent" of each disbursement by determining present value (at the time the preferential loan was made) of the difference in annual payments that would occur during the life of the loan. Using our declining balance methodology with the long-term commercial benchmark as the discount rate, we allocated the grant equivalents over the life of the loan. We then totaled the benefits allocated to the review period for each disbursement.
Since these loans benefit a company's total production, we allocated the benefit over the company's total sales during the review period. On this basis, we preliminarily determine the benefit from this program to be 0.19 percent ad valorem during the review period.
*46443 (2) Other Programs
We also examined the following programs and preliminarily determine that Roldan did not use them during the review period:
C. Regional Incentives Program
Preliminary Results of Review
As a result of our review, we preliminarily determine the net subsidy for the period January 1, 1988 through December 31, 1988 to be 0.19 percent ad valorem. The Department considers any rate less than 0.50 percent to be de minimis.
The Department intends to instruct the Customs Service to liquidate, without regard to countervailing duties, all shipments of this merchandise exported on or after January 1, 1988 and on or before December 31, 1988.
The Department also intends to instruct the Customs Service to waive cash deposits of estimated countervailing duties, as provided by section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act, on all shipments of this merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of the final results of this review.
Interested parties may submit written comments on these preliminary results within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice and may request disclosure and/or a hearing within 10 days of the date of publication. Any hearing, if requested, will be held 44 days after the date of publication or the first workday thereafter. Rebuttal briefs and rebuttals to written comments, limited to issues in those comments, must be filed not later than 37 days after the date of publication. The Department will publish the final results of this administrative review including the results of its analysis of issues raised in any such written comments or at a hearing.
This administrative review and notice are in accordance with section 751(a)(1) of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1675(a)(1)) and section 355.22 of the Commerce Regulations.
Dated: October 30, 1989.
Eric I. Garfinkel,
Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.