On November 18, the Department of Commerce announced the preliminary results of the expedited reviews of 16 companies under the countervailing duty order on softwood lumber products from Canada. In addition, the Department is preliminarily rescinding expedited reviews of five companies (Kootenay Innovate Wood Inc., Lukwa Mills Ltd., South East Forest Products, Ltd., Teal Cedar Products Ltd., and West Frazer Mills Ltd.).

The Department will post its results on the Import Administration website at the following address: www.ia.ita.doc.gov.

PRELIMINARY NET SUBSIDY RATES:

BACKGROUND

The Department received requests from 104 companies to conduct an expedited review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain softwood lumber products from Canada for the period April 1, 2000, through March 31, 2001. To date, expedited CVD reviews have been completed and new net subsidy rates released for 16 companies. Today's action brings the number of preliminary results issued to 44 companies. We are also announcing preliminary rescission of expedited reviews of five companies, bringing the total number of rescissions to 18. In all, the total number of companies processed to date is 78. We are currently collecting information and performing analysis on the remaining 26 companies.