20-3-4223 U.S. purchasers' questionnaire

OMB No. 3117-0016/USITC No. 20-3-4223; Expiration Date: 6/30/2020
(No response is required if currently valid OMB control number is not displayed)

LOST SALES AND LOST REVENUE SURVEY
NON-REFILLABLE STEEL CYLINDERS FROM CHINA
This questionnaire must be received by the Commission by April 10, 2020
See last page for filing instructions.
The information called for in this survey is for use by the United States International Trade Commission in connection
with its countervailing duty and antidumping investigations concerning non-refillable steel cylinders from China (Inv.
Nos. 701-TA-644 and 731-TA-1494 (Preliminary)). The information requested in the survey is requested under the
authority of the Tariff Act of 1930, title VII. This report is mandatory and failure to reply as directed can result in a
subpoena or other order to compel the submission of records or information in your possession (19 U.S.C. § 1333(a)).
Further information on this survey can be obtained from Lauren Gamache (lauren.gamache@usitc.gov, 202-205-3489).

Name of firm
Address
City

State

Zip Code

Website
Has your firm purchased, or imported for its own use or retail sale, non-refillable steel cylinders (as defined on
next page) at any time since January 1, 2017?

NO

(Sign the certification below and promptly return only this page of the survey to the Commission)

YES

(Complete all parts of the survey, and return the entire survey to the Commission)

Return questionnaire via the U.S. International Trade Commission Drop Box by clicking on the
following link: https://dropbox.usitc.gov/oinv/. (PIN: NRSC)
CERTIFICATION
I certify that the information herein supplied in this survey is complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief and
understand that the information submitted is subject to audit and verification by the Commission. By submitting this certification I
also grant consent for the Commission, and its employees and contract personnel, to use the information provided in this survey
and throughout this proceeding in any other import-injury proceedings conducted by the Commission on the same or similar
merchandise.
I, the undersigned, acknowledge that information submitted in response to this request for information and throughout this
investigation or other proceeding may be disclosed to and used: (i) by the Commission, its employees and Offices, and contract
personnel (a) for developing or maintaining the records of this or a related proceeding, or (b) in internal investigations, audits,
reviews, and evaluations relating to the programs, personnel, and operations of the Commission including under 5 U.S.C.
Appendix 3; or (ii) by U.S. government employees and contract personnel, solely for cybersecurity purposes. I understand that all
contract personnel will sign appropriate nondisclosure agreements.
Name of Authorized Official

Title of Authorized Official

Date

Signature

Phone

Email address

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Lost Sales and Lost Revenue Survey- Non-refillable steel cylinders

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GENERAL INFORMATION
Background.--This proceeding was instituted in response to a petition filed on March 27, 2020, by
Worthington Industries, Columbus, Ohio. Countervailing and antidumping duties may be assessed on
the subject imports as a result of these proceedings if the Commission makes an affirmative
determination of injury, threat, or material retardation, and if the U.S. Department of Commerce
(“Commerce”) makes an affirmative determination of subsidization and dumping. U.S. producers of nonrefillable steel cylinders have provided the USITC with allegations about sales or revenue that they have
lost due to competition from imports of non-refillable steel cylinders from China. One or more domestic
producer(s) have named your firm in such an allegation.
Non-refillable steel cylinders covered by these investigations are certain non-refillable steel cylinders
meeting the requirements of, or produced to meet the requirements of, U.S. Department of
Transportation (“USDOT”) Specifications 39, TransportCanada Specification 39M, or United Nations
pressure receptacle standard ISO 11118 and otherwise meeting the description provided below
(“nonrefillable steel cylinders”). The subject non-refillable steel cylinders are portable and range from
300-cubic inch (4.9 liter) water capacity to 1,526-cubic inch (25 liter) water capacity. Subject non
refillable steel cylinders may be imported with or without a valve and/or pressure release device and
may be filled or unfilled at the time of importation.
Specifically excluded are seamless non-refillable steel cylinders.
Also excluded from the scope of these petitions are non-refillable steel cylinders filled at the time of
importation whose content is subject to another antidumping and/or countervailing duty order. At the
time of filing this petition, there are existing antidumping duty orders on Hydrofluorocarbon Blends
from the People’s Republic of China and 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane (R-134A) from the People’s Republic
of China. See Hydrofluorocarbon Blends From the People’s Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order,
81 Fed. Reg. 55,436 (Dep’t Commerce Aug. 19, 2016); 1,1,1,2 Tetrafluoroethane (R-134a) from the
People’s Republic of China: Antidumping Duty Order, 82 Fed. Reg. 18,422 (Dep’t Commerce Apr. 19,
2017). In the case of non-refillable steel cylinders entering the United States filled with merchandise
covered by the scope of these orders or future antidumping and/or countervailing duty orders covering
the gas or material content of the nonrefillable steel cylinders, such other orders control. In the case of
non-refillable steel cylinders entering the United States filled with merchandise not covered by the
scope of any other antidumping and/or countervailing duty order, the scope of this petition controls.
Non-refillable steel cylinders are currently imported under statistical reporting numbers 7311.00.0060
and 7311.00.0090 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). They may also be
imported under HTSUS statistical reporting number 7310.29.0025. The HTSUS provisions are for
convenience and customs purposes; the written description of the scope is dispositive.
Reporting of information.-- If information is not readily available from your records, provide carefully
prepared estimates.
Confidentiality.--The data furnished in response to this survey that reveal the individual operations of
your firm will be treated as confidential by the Commission to the extent that such data are not
otherwise available to the public and will not be disclosed except as may be required by law (see 19
U.S.C. 1677f). Such confidential information will not be published in a manner that will reveal the
individual operations of your firm; however, general characterizations of numerical business proprietary

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Lost Sales and Lost Revenue Survey- Non-Refillable Steel Cylinders

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information (such as discussion of trends) will be treated as confidential business information only at the
request of the submitter for good cause shown.
Release of information.--The information provided by your firm in response to this survey, as well as
any other business proprietary information submitted by your firm to the Commission in connection
with this proceeding, may become subject to, and released under, the administrative protective order
provisions of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1677f) and section 207.7 of the Commission’s Rules of
Practice and Procedure (19 CFR § 207.7). This means that certain lawyers and other authorized
individuals may temporarily be given access to the information for use in connection with this
proceeding or other import-injury proceedings conducted by the Commission on the same or similar
merchandise; those individuals would be subject to severe penalties if the information were divulged to
unauthorized individuals. Please also retain a copy of the final document that you submit.
Contact information.--Please identify the responsible individual and the manner by which Commission
staff may contact that individual regarding the confidential information submitted in this survey. This
may or may not be the person whose signature is at the bottom of page 1.
Name
Title
Email
Telephone
Firms operating more than one establishment should combine the data for all establishments into a
single response.

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PURCHASE INFORMATION
1. Purchases and imports.—
(a) Report separately your firm’s domestic purchases and imports of non-refillable steel
cylinders.
“Purchase” – Purchase from a U.S. entity such as a U.S. producer, a U.S. importer, or other U.S.
firm.
“Import” – Purchase directly from a foreign supplier and your firm is the importer of record.
2017

2018

Item

2019

Quantity (in units)

Purchases of non-refillable steel
cylinders produced in—
United States
China
All other countries1
Sources unknown2
Total purchases

0

0

0

0

0

0

Imports of non-refillable steel cylinders
from—
China
All other countries1
Total imports3

Please identify these countries:
Please indicate the firm(s) from which you purchased this merchandise:
3
If your firm imported non-refillable steel cylinders at any time since January 1, 2017, please
also complete and return a U.S. importers' questionnaire in this proceeding.
1
2

(b) Did your firm purchase non-refillable steel cylinders that were already filled with liquid or gas
in 2019?

No

Yes

If yes, please
estimate the share of
purchases that were
already filled
If yes, please identify the material(s) contained
(percent)
in the non-refillable steel cylinders.

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2. Changes in purchasing patterns.—Please indicate how the shares of your firm’s purchases of nonrefillable steel cylinders from different sources have changed since January 1, 2017.
Source of
purchases

Did not
purchase Decreased Increased

Constant Fluctuated

Explanation for trend

United States
China
All other
countries
Sources
unknown

3. Major purchasing factors.--Please list, in order of their importance, the main factors your firm
considers in deciding from whom to purchase non-refillable steel cylinders.
1.
2.
3.
Please list any other factors that are very important in your purchase decisions:
4. Purchasing subject imports rather than domestic products.—
(a)

Since January 2017, did your firm import and/or purchase imports of non-refillable steel
cylinders from China instead of purchasing U.S.-produced non-refillable steel cylinders?
Source

Yes
(also respond to parts (b) and (c))

No
(If “No”, skip to next question)

China
(b)

If you responded “Yes” to part (a), was the imported product priced lower than the
domestic product?
Source
China

Yes

No

Business Proprietary
Lost Sales and Lost Revenue Survey- Non-Refillable Steel Cylinders
4.

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Purchasing subject imports rather than domestic products.—Continued.
(c)

If you responded “Yes” to part (a), was price a primary reason for importing and/or
purchasing subject imports rather than domestic product?

Source

Yes

If Yes, estimate the quantity
of imports purchased and/or
imported instead of domestic
product since January 2017
(in units)

No

If No, please indicate the
reason your firm imported
and/or purchased imports
instead of domestic product

China
5. U.S. producers and import competition.—
(a)

Since January 1, 2017, in connection with a sale or offer to sell non-refillable steel
cylinders to your firm, did U.S. producers reduce their prices of domestically produced
non-refillable steel cylinders in order to compete with lower-priced imports of nonrefillable steel cylinders from the subject countries?
Source

Yes (also respond to
question part (b))

No (If “No,” skip to next
question)

Don’t know

China
(b)

If your firm responded “yes” to any of the above countries, please provide an estimate
of the reduction in U.S. producers’ prices, and any additional explanations, such as
timing (e.g., months/years), frequency of price reductions, or other market/competitive
factors.

Source
China

Estimated
reduction in U.S.
prices
(percent)

Additional explanation, including such information as
timing (e.g., months/years), frequency of price
reductions, or other market/competitive factors

%

6. Other explanations--Please provide any additional comments in this box.

7. Stock symbol information.-- If your firm or parent firm is publicly traded, please specify the stock
exchange and trading symbol:
.

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8. External counsel.-- If your firm or parent firm is represented by external counsel in relation to this
proceeding, please specify the name of the law firm and the lead attorney(s).
Law firm:
Lead attorney(s):
OMB INFORMATION
9. OMB statistics.--Please report the actual number of hours required and the cost to your firm of
completing this survey.
Hours

Dollars

The questions in this survey have been reviewed with market participants to ensure that issues of
concern are adequately addressed and that data requests are sufficient, meaningful, and as limited
as possible. Public reporting burden for this survey is estimated to average 4 hours per response,
including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering data, and completing and reviewing the
survey.
We welcome comments regarding the accuracy of this burden estimate, suggestions for reducing
the burden, and any suggestions for improving this survey. Please attach such comments to your
response or send to the Office of Investigations, USITC, 500 E St. SW, Washington, DC 20436.

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HOW TO FILE YOUR SURVEY RESPONSE
Please do not attempt to modify the format or permissions of the survey document.
Please submit the completed survey using one of the methods noted below. If your firm
is unable to complete the MS Word survey or cannot use one of the electronic methods
of submission, please contact the Commission for further instructions.
• Upload via Secure Drop Box.—Upload the MS Word survey along with a scanned copy of the signed
certification page (page 1) through the Commission’s secure upload facility:
Web address: https://dropbox.usitc.gov/oinv/

Pin: NRSC

• E-mail.—E-mail the MS Word survey to lauren.gamache@usitc.gov; include a scanned copy of the
signed certification page (page 1). Submitters are strongly encouraged to encrypt nonpublic documents
that are electronically transmitted to the Commission to protect your sensitive information from
unauthorized disclosure. The USITC secure drop-box system and the Electronic Document Information
System (EDIS) use Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 cryptographic algorithms to
encrypt data in transit. Submitting your nonpublic documents by a means that does not use these
encryption algorithms (such as by email) may subject your firm’s nonpublic information to unauthorized
disclosure during transmission. If you choose a non-encrypted method of electronic transmission, the
Commission warns you that the risk of such possible unauthorized disclosure is assumed by you and not
by the Commission.
If your firm did not purchase this product, please fill out page 1, print, sign, and submit a scanned copy
to the Commission.