U.S. will impose antidumping duties of 267% on imports of crepe paper products from China

Dec 02, 2004. /Lesprom Network/. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it will impose antidumping duties of 267% on imports of crepe paper products from China. This duty represents the amount by which crepe paper products from China are being sold at less than fair market value, and will be applied to eliminate the unfair price discrimination. Additionally, Commerce determined that all Chinese producers and exporters had attempted to undercut the effectiveness of the antidumping duty order by shipping massive amounts of crepe paper products in the period of time after the unfair trade petition was filed in February 2004, and before imports initially became subject to duties in September 2004. As a result, duties will be imposed retroactively on all crepe paper imports that entered the U.S. Customs territory starting June 24, 2004. With the announcement of the final antidumping duty margin, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will continue to require importers to post a bond or cash deposit in the amount of the margin on crepe paper imports from China. International trade attorney David A. Hartquist said, "We are pleased that Commerce agrees that the short-term success enjoyed by Chinese producers and exporters has been gained through unfair pricing and underselling in the American market place." Pending a final decision in this case by the International Trade Commission (ITC), which is expected January 7, 2005, U.S. importers are being allowed to post bonds instead of cash to pay the duties. If the ITC finds that the domestic industry has been injured by the dumped Chinese imports, Customs will require U.S. importers to make cash deposits of the dumping duties. The request for the crepe paper dumping investigation was filed last February by seven manufacturers of crepe paper products and a national union whose workers are employed in their facilities. The same parties also requested an antidumping duty investigation of tissue paper imports from China, which is ongoing. The parallel tissue paper investigation continues with a final injury determination scheduled for March 8, 2005. The list of petitioners follows: 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. David A. Hartquist serves as lead counsel to the petitioners. He heads the International Trade and Customs Practice of the Washington, D.C. law firm Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC.