U.S. announced the imposition of antidumping duties of 112% on all imports of tissue paper from China

Feb 07, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. The Department of Commerce today announced the imposition of antidumping duties of 112% on all imports of tissue paper from China, according to U.S. manufacturers of the product. International trade attorney David A. Hartquist, who serves as lead counsel to the U.S. petitioners in the unfair trade case, said, "We are pleased that Commerce agrees with our contention that Chinese producers have engaged in unfair pricing practices in the American marketplace, creating a price turmoil that has jeopardized the long-term viability of yet another American manufacturing industry and workers." By law, the actual collection of the duties cannot go into effect until the International Trade Commission (ITC) finds that a U.S. industry is "materially" injured or threatened to be injured by reason of the unfairly traded imports. That determination is scheduled for March 8, 2005. Until then, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency will require importers to post a bond or cash deposit. The petition seeking the tissue paper dumping investigation was filed in February 2004 by seven manufacturers of tissue paper and crepe paper products and a national union. The petition also requested an investigation of imports of crepe paper from China. On January 6, 2005, the ITC supported the unfair trade charge brought by the U.S. producers of crepe paper products and imposed antidumping duties of 267% on imports from China. The petitioners in the cases are: Seaman Paper Company of Massachusetts, Inc., Otter River, Massachusetts; Eagle Tissue LLC, South Windsor, Connecticut; Flower City Tissue Mills, Co., Rochester, New York; Garlock Printing & Converting, Inc., Gardner, Massachusetts; Paper Service Limited, Hinsdale, New Hampshire; Putney Paper Co., Putney, Vermont; American Crepe Corporation, Montoursville, Pennsylvania; and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC.