[Ferro-alloys.com]On September 18, 2015, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty (AD) investigation of imports of silicomanganese from Australia.

• The AD law provides U.S. businesses and workers with a transparent and internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the market distorting effects caused by injurious dumping of imports into the United States, establishing an opportunity to compete on a level playing field.

• For the purpose of AD investigations, dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the

United States at less than its fair value.

• The sole mandatory respondent, Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company Pty Ltd. (TEMCO), received a preliminary dumping margin of 11.93 percent. Because there were no other respondents, TEMCO's margin also serves as the preliminary dumping margin for all other producers/exporters in Australia.

• As a result of the preliminary affirmative determination, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and

Border Protection to require cash deposits based on these preliminary rates.

• The petitioner for this investigation is Felman Production, LLC (FL).

• The scope of this investigation covers all forms, sizes and compositions of silicomanganese, except low-carbon silicomanganese, including silicomanganese briquettes, fines, and slag. Silicomanganese is a ferroalloy composed principally of manganese, silicon, and iron, and normally contains much smaller proportions of minor elements, such as carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur. Silicomanganese is sometimes referred to as ferrosilicon manganese.

Silicomanganese generally contains by weight not less than 4 percent iron, more than 30 percent manganese, more than 8 percent silicon and not more than 0.2 percent phosphorus. Silicomanganese is properly classifiable under subheading 7202.30.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

Low-carbon silicomanganese is excluded from the scope of this investigation. It is sometimes referred to as ferromanganese-silicon. The low-carbon silicomanganese excluded from this investigation is a ferroalloy with the following chemical specifications by weight: minimum 55 percent manganese, minimum 27 percent silicon, minimum 4 percent iron, maximum 0.10 percent phosphorus, maximum 0.10 percent carbon, and maximum 0.05 percent sulfur. Low-carbon silicomanganese is classifiable under HTSUS subheading 7202.30.0000.

The HTSUS subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes. The written description of the scope is dispositive.

• In 2014, imports of silicomanganese from Australia were valued at an estimated $76.9 million.