14-3-3269 U.S. Purchaser Questionnaire

OMB No. 3117-0016/USITC No. 14-3-3269; Expiration Date: 6/30/2017

(No response is required if currently valid OMB control number is not displayed)

U.S. PURCHASERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE

1,1,1,2-TETRAFLUOROETHANE FROM CHINA

This questionnaire must be received by the Commission by no later than August 15, 2014

See the Instruction Booklet for filing instructions.

The information called for in this questionnaire is for use by the United States International Trade Commission in connection with its countervailing duty and antidumping investigations concerning 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane (“R-134a”) from China (Inv. Nos. 701-TA-509 and 731-TA-1244 (Final)). The information requested in the questionnaire 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 questionnaire can be obtained from Cindy Cohen (202-205-3230, [email protected]).

Name of firm      

Address      

City       State    Zip Code      

World Wide Web address      

Has your firm purchased R-134a (as defined in the instruction booklet) from any source (domestic or foreign) at any time since January 1, 2011?

NO (Sign the certification below and promptly return only this page of the questionnaire to the Commission)

YES (Read the instruction booklet carefully, complete all parts of the questionnaire, and return the entire

questionnaire to the Commission so as to be received by the date indicated above)

Return questionnaire via the U.S. International Trade Commission Drop Box by clicking on the following link: https://dropbox.usitc.gov/oinv/. (use the following PIN: R134)

CERTIFICATION

I certify that the information herein supplied in response to this questionnaire 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 questionnaire and throughout this proceeding in any other import-injury proceedings conducted by the Commission on the same or similar merchandise.

I acknowledge that information submitted in this questionnaire response and throughout this proceeding may be used by the Commission, its employees, and contract personnel who are acting in the capacity of Commission employees, for developing or maintaining the records of this proceeding or related proceedings for which this information is submitted, or in internal audits and proceedings relating to the programs and operations of the Commission pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Appendix 3. I understand that all contract personnel will sign non-disclosure agreements.

                 

Name of Authorized Official Title of Authorized Official Date

Phone:            

Signature Email address

Fax      

The questions in this questionnaire 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 questionnaire is estimated to average 25 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering the data needed, and completing and reviewing the questionnaire. Send comments regarding the accuracy of this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Office of Investigations, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20436.

I-1a. OMB statistics.--Please report the actual number of hours required and the cost to your firm of preparing the reply to this questionnaire and completing the form.

Hours	Dollars
     	     

I-1b. OMB feedback.--We are interested in any comments you may have for improving this questionnaire in general or the clarity of specific questions. Please attach such comments to your response or send them to the above address.

I-2. Establishments covered.-- Provide the name and address of establishment(s) covered by this questionnaire, if different from that listed on the cover page (see page 3 of the instruction booklet for reporting guidelines).

     

I-3. Ownership.--Is your firm owned, in whole or in part, by any other firm?

No Yes--List the following information.

Firm name	Address	Extent of ownership (percent)
     	     	     
     	     	     

I-4. Related SUBJECT importers/exporters.--Does your firm have any related firms, either domestic or foreign, which import R-134a from China into the United States or which export R-134a from China to the United States?

No Yes--List the following information.

Firm name	Address	Affiliation
     	     	     
     	     	     

I-5. Related NONSUBJECT importers/exporters.--Does your firm have any related firms, either domestic or foreign, which import R-134a from countries other than China into the United States or which export R-134a from countries other than China to the United States?

No Yes--List the following information.

Firm name and country	Address	Affiliation
     	     	     
     	     	     

I-6. Related producers.--Does your firm have any related firms, either domestic or foreign, which produce R-134a?

No Yes--List the following information.

Firm name	Address	Affiliation
     	     	     
     	     	     

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 questionnaire.

Name	     
Title	     
Email	     
Telephone	     
Fax	     

II-1. Purchases.— Report your firm’s U.S. purchases of R-134a (based on delivery date). Do not include imports for which your firm was the importer of record; such imports should be reported in your U.S. importer’s questionnaire.

Item	2011	2012	2013
Purchases of R-134a produced in--	Quantity (short tons)
United States	     	     	     
China	     	     	     
All other countries:1	     	     	     
1 Please identify these countries:      

II-2. Changes in purchasing patterns.--Please indicate how the shares of your firm’s purchases of R-134a from different sources have changed in the last three years.

Source of purchases	Did not purchase	Decreased	Increased	Constant	Fluctuated	Explanation for trend
United States						     
China						     
All other countries						     

II-3. Purchases from one country only.--If your firm has purchased R-134a from only one country, please explain the reasons for doing so.

     

II-4. Supplier identification.--Please list your firm’s FIVE largest suppliers for R-134a since 2011. Also, provide the share of the quantity of your firm’s total purchases of R-134a that each of these suppliers accounted for in 2013.

No.	Supplier’s name	City and state	Share of quantity of 2013 purchases
1	     	     	     	%
2	     	     	     	%
3	     	     	     	%
4	     	     	     	%
5	     	     	     	%

III-1. Firm type.--Which of the following best describes your firm as a purchaser of R-134a? (check all that apply and explain)

Automotive OEM	Auto parts retailer	Auto repair	Chemical/ pharmaceutical manufacturer	Distributor	Other	Explain
						     

If your firm is a distributor of R-134a, please answer questions III-2 and III-3.

III-2. Competition for sales.--Do you compete for sales to your customers with the manufacturers or importers from which you purchase R-134a?

Do you compete with:	No	Yes	If yes, please describe.
Manufacturers			     
Importers			     

III-3. (a) Types of customers.--What are the major types of consumers to which you sell R-134a?

     

2. Repackaging.—Does your firm repackage bulk R-134a into smaller size containers?

No	Yes	Explain
		     

If your firm is an end user of R-134a, please answer questions III-4 and III-5.

III-4. End uses.--List the top 3 products you make using R-134a and estimate the percent of your total production cost that is accounted for by R-134a and by other inputs (such as labor, energy, and other raw materials).

Product(s) you produce	Share of total cost in each of the product(s) you produce accounted for by						Total (should sum to 100.0% across)
	R-134a			Other inputs
     	     	%	+	     	%	=		%
     	     	%	+	     	%	=		%
     	     	%	+	     	%	=		%

III-5. Demand for end use products.--

(a) Has the demand for your firm’s final products incorporating R-134a changed since January 1, 2011?

Increased	No change	Decreased	Fluctuated

(b) Has this had any effect on your firm’s demand for R-134a?

No	Yes	Explain
		     

III-6. Substitutes.--Can other products be substituted for R-134a?

No Yes--Please fill out the table below.

Substitute		End use in which this substitute is used	Have changes in the prices of this substitute affected the price for R-134a?
			No	Yes	Explanation
1.	     	     			     
2.	     	     			     
3.	     	     			     

III-7. Demand trends.-- Indicate how demand within the United States and outside of the United States (if known) for R-134a has changed since January 1, 2011. Explain any trends and describe the principal factors that have affected these changes in demand.

Market	Overall increase	No change	Overall decrease	Fluctuate with no clear trend	Explanation and factors
Within the United States					     
Outside the United States					     

III-8. Importance of purchasing domestic product.--Please fill out the table below, estimating the percentage of your firm’s total 2013 purchases of R-134a that required R-134a produced in the United States.

	Estimated percentage of your firm’s total 2013 purchases of R-134a
Purchases that did not require domestic product	     	%
Purchases that were required by law or regulation to be domestic product (e.g., government purchases under “Buy American” provisions)	     	%
Purchases that were not required by law or regulation, but were required by your customers to be domestic product	     	%
Purchases that were required to be domestic product for other reasons (explain:         )	     	%
Total (should sum to 100.0%)		%

III-9. Conditions of competition.--

1. Is the R-134a market subject to business cycles (other than general economy-wide conditions) and/or other conditions of competition distinctive to R-134a?

Check all that apply.		Please describe.
	No	Skip to question III-10.
	Yes-Business cycles (e.g. seasonal business)	     
	Yes-Other distinctive conditions of competition	     

2. Have there been any changes in the business cycles or conditions of competition for R-134a since January 1, 2011?

No	Yes	If yes, describe.
		     

III-10. Decisions based on producer and country-of-origin.--How often does your firm, and if you know, do your customers, make purchasing decisions involving R-134a based on its producer or country of origin?

	Always	Usually	Sometimes	Never	If at least sometimes, explain.
Decision based on producer
Your firm					     
Your customers					     
Decision based on country of origin
Your firm					     
Your customers					     

III-11. Supply constraints.--Has any firm refused, declined, or been unable to supply R-134a since January 1, 2011 (examples include placing customers on allocation or “controlled order entry,” declining to accept new customers or renew existing customers, delivering less than the quantity promised, been unable to meet timely shipment commitments, etc.)?

No	Yes	If yes, please describe, including month and year.
		     

III-12. Purchasing frequency.--

1. How frequently do you make purchases of R-134a (check one)?

Daily	Weekly	Monthly	Quarterly	Annually	Other	If other, specify
						     

2. Has this purchasing frequency changed since January 1, 2011?

No	Yes	If yes, please describe.
		     

III-13. Number of suppliers contacted.--How many suppliers do you generally contact before making a purchase? Between       and       firms

III-14. Supplier negotiations.--Do your purchases of R-134a usually involve negotiations between supplier and purchaser?

No	Yes	If yes, explain the factors you generally negotiate and note whether your firm quotes competing prices during negotiations.
		     

III-15. Change in suppliers.--Have you changed suppliers since January 1, 2011?

No	Yes	If yes, please list the supplier(s), whether the firm was added or dropped, the reasons for the change.
		     

III-16. New suppliers.--Are you aware of any new suppliers, either foreign or domestic, that have entered the market since January 1, 2011?

No	Yes	If yes, please identify the firms.
		     

III-17. Supplier qualification--Do you require your suppliers to be or to become certified or qualified to sell R-134a to your firm?

If yes, provide the following information.

• The number of days to qualify a new supplier.

• A general description of the certification or qualification process. Also, a brief description of the factors that you consider when qualifying a new supplier (e.g., quality of product, reliability of supplier, etc.).

No	Yes	Number of days	Process and factors
		     	     

III-18. Failure to certify.--Since January 1, 2011, have any domestic or foreign producers failed in their attempts to certify or qualify their R-134a with your firm or have any producers lost their approved status?

No	Yes	If yes, please identify these firms, the countries where they are located, and the reasons why they failed the certification/qualification.
		     

III-19. Major purchasing factors.--Please list, in order of their importance, the three major factors your firm considers in deciding from whom to purchase R-134a (examples include availability, extension of credit, contracts, price, quality, range of supplier’s product line, traditional supplier, etc.).

1.	     
2.	     
3.	     
Please list any other factors that are very important in your purchase decisions:      

III-20. Purchasing factors.-- Please rate the importance of the following factors in your firm’s purchasing decisions for R-134a.

Factor	Very important	Somewhat important	Not important
Availability
Delivery terms
Delivery time
Discounts offered
Extension of credit
Minimum quantity requirements
Packaging
Price
Product consistency
Product range
Quality exceeds industry standards
Quality meets industry standards
Reliability of supply
Technical support/service
U.S. transportation costs

III-21. Quality characteristics.--What characteristics does your firm consider when determining the quality of R-134a?

     

III-22. Frequency of decisions based on price.--How often does your firm purchase the R-134a that is offered at the lowest price?

Always	Usually	Sometimes	Never

III-23. Price leaders.— A price leader is defined as (1) one or more firms that initiate a price change, either upward or downward, that is followed by other firms, or (2) one or more firms that have a significant impact on prices. A price leader is not necessarily the lowest-priced supplier.

Please list the names of any firms you considered price leaders in the R-134a market since January 1, 2011.

Firm(s)	Describe how the firm(s) exhibited price leadership.
     	     

III-24. Long term contracts.— Since January 1, 2011, has your firm entered into sales or purchase contracts for R-134a of one year or longer?

No	Yes	If yes, please indicate the year and quarter (i.e, first, second, third, or fourth quarter) your most recent contracts for the supply and/or sale of R-134a were entered into.
		     

IV-1. Country knowledge.--Please indicate the countries of origin for R-134a for which your firm has actual marketing/pricing knowledge.

United States	China	Other countries (specify)
		     

IV-2. Interchangeability.--Is R-134a produced in the United States and in other countries interchangeable (i.e., can they physically be used in the same applications)?

Please indicate A, F, S, N, or 0 in the table below:

A = the products from a specified country-pair are always interchangeable

F = the products are frequently interchangeable

S = the products are sometimes interchangeable

N = the products are never interchangeable

0 = no familiarity with products from a specified country-pair

Country-pair	China	Other countries
United States
China
For any country-pair producing R-134a which is sometimes or never interchangeable, please identify the country-pair and explain the factors that limit or preclude interchangeable use:      

IV-3. Factors other than price.--Are differences other than price (e.g., quality, availability, transportation network, product range, technical support, etc.) between R-134a produced in the United States and in other countries a significant factor in your firm’s purchases of the products?

Please indicate A, F, S, N, or 0 in the table below:

A = such differences are always significant

F = such differences are frequently significant

S = such differences are sometimes significant

N = such differences are never significant

0 = no familiarity with products from a specified country-pair

Country-pair	China	Other countries
United States
China
For any country-pair for which factors other than price always or frequently are a significant factor in your firm’s purchases of R-134a, identify the country-pair and report the advantages or disadvantages imparted by such factors:      

IV-4. Country preferences.--Do you or your customers ever specifically order R-134a from one country in particular over other possible sources of supply?

No	Yes	If yes, identify the countries and explain.
		     

IV-5. Availability of merchandise.--Are certain grades/types/sizes of R-134a available from only from certain country sources?

No	Yes	If yes, please identify the countries and the grade/type/size.
		     

IV-6. Choice of product not based on price.--If you purchased R-134a from one country source although a comparable product was available from another country source at a lower price, please explain your reasons for doing so (please specify by country).

     

IV-7. Packaging.—

1. Are there any differences in the types of packaging available from U.S. producers of R-134a and from importers of R-134a?

No	Yes	If yes, please explain.
		     

2. Does your firm purchase 12-ounce cans of R-134a?

No- skip to question IV-8	Yes

3. Since January 1, 2011, was your firm able to purchase U.S.-produced 12-ounce cans of R-134a?

No	Yes- directly from a U.S. producer	Yes- from distributors	Please explain.
			     

4. Does your firm purchase 12-ounce cans of R-134a with your company label?

No- skip to question IV-8	Yes- answer part (c)

5. Since January 1, 2011, was U.S.-produced R-134a available, either directly from a U.S. producer or from a repackager or distributor, in 12-ounce cans with your company label?

No	Yes- available directly from a domestic producer	Yes- available from a repackager or distributor	Please explain.
			     

IV-8. Factor country comparisons.--For the factors listed below, please rate how R-134a produced in each country you identified in your response to the first question in Part IV compares with R-134a produced in each of the other countries you identified.

If you are unfamiliar with the product from a particular country, please leave the boxes for those country comparisons blank.

	product from United States compared to product from China			product from United States compared to product from Nonsubject countries			product from China compared to product from Nonsubject countries
	Superior	Comparable	Inferior	Superior	Comparable	Inferior	Superior	Comparable	Inferior
Availability
Delivery terms
Delivery time
Discounts offered
Extension of credit
Minimum quantity requirements
Packaging
Price1
Product consistency
Product range
Quality exceeds industry standards
Quality meets industry standards
Reliability of supply
Technical support/service
U.S. transportation costs1
1 A rating of superior on price and U.S. transportation costs indicates that the first country generally has lower prices/U.S. transportation costs than the second country.

IV-9. Minimum quality.--How often does R-134a from the following countries meet minimum quality specifications for your uses or your customers’ uses?

Source	Always	Usually	Sometimes	Rarely or never	Don’t know
United States
China
Other:      

IV-10. Other explanations--If your firm would like to further explain a response to any question that did not provide a narrative response box, please note the question number and the explanation in the space provided below. Please also use this space to highlight any issues your firm had in providing the data in this section, including but not limited to technical issues with the MS Word questionnaire.