FACT SHEET

Preliminary Determinations in the Antidumping Duty Investigations on

Magnesium Metal from the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation

On September 27, 2004, the Department of Commerce (the Department) announced its preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations of magnesium metal from the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation (Russia).   We preliminarily find that producers/exporters have sold magnesium metal from the PRC and Russia in the U.S. market at less than fair value, with margins ranging from 117.41 to 177.62 percent and from10.62 to 21.49 percent, respectively.

Upon the publication of the preliminary determinations in the Federal Register, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs) will begin to suspend liquidation of entries of subject merchandise and collect a bond or cash deposit based on the margins in the Department's preliminary determinations.

Company Qualifying for a "Separate Rate" (Section A Respondents): Based on a voluntary questionnaire response to the Department's Section A questionnaire submitted by one Chinese company in this investigation, Guangling Jinghua Science and Technology Co, Ltd. (Guangling Jinghua) , the Department has preliminarily determined that Guangling Jinghua has demonstrated an absence of government control that is required to be eligible to receive "separate-rate" status.   In accordance with our law and regulations, the Department has applied the weighted-average dumping margin of the mandatory respondents in the investigation of 140.09% to imports produced/exported by Guangling Jinghua for the purpose of the preliminary determination.

Next Steps:   The Department will consider all submitted comments from interested parties along with record evidence before making its final determinations on or about February 16, 2005.   If the Department makes final affirmative determinations, and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes final affirmative determinations that imports materially injure, or threaten material injury to the domestic industry, the Department will issue antidumping duty orders and instruct Customs to collect cash deposits on imports of subject merchandise.

Petitioners:   The petitions requesting these investigations were filed on February 27, 2004 by the US Magnesium Corporation LLC (US Magnesium), United Steelworkers of America, Local 8319, and Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International, Local 374 (collectively, "petitioners"), an ad hoc coalition representative of U.S. producers of magnesium metal.

Product Description:   The products covered by the two investigations include primary and secondary pure and alloy magnesium metal, regardless of chemistry, raw material source, form, shape, or size.   Although the Department is determining these products to be one like product for purposes of these investigations, the respective scopes of the Chinese and Russian investigations differ because prior antidumping duty orders exist on pure magnesium in both ingot and granular form from the PRC.   Therefore, the scope of the investigation for Russia covers primary and secondary pure and alloy magnesium metal, whereas the scope of the investigation for the PRC covers primary and secondary alloy magnesium metal.   Additional information on the scope of these investigations is included in the Department's Notice of Preliminary Determination, as published in the Federal Register.  

Preliminary Dumping Margins:

Case Calendar:

* This will take place only in the event of a final affirmative determination from the Department.

** This will take place only in the event of a final affirmative determination from both the Department and the ITC.

Imports Statistics:

Source: U.S. ITC Trade DataWeb for HTS 8104.19.00.00.

Source: U.S. ITC Trade DataWeb for HTS 8104.11.00.00, HTS 8104.19.00.00, and HTS 8104.30.00.00.