The United States' decision to impose anti-dumping duties on
gloss paper imports from China, South Korea and Indonesia on
Wednesday will hurt trade relations and won't help American paper
manufacturers, analysts say.
The US Department of Commerce said on Wednesday that it made a
preliminary decision to impose duties of 23.19 percent to 99.65
percent on Chinese imports of gloss paper, used in cataloges and
premium magazines.
It is a second blow to Chinese gloss paper exporters in two
months. On March 30, the Department of Commerce announced
anti-subsidy duties of 10.90 percent to 20.35 percent, which are
expected to take effect in August.
The March charge was the first time the United States launched
anti-subsidy acts on a "non-market economy" like China in 23
years.
The Ministry of Commerce was not immediately available yesterday
to comment on the new charge, but said in the past two months that
the March accusation went against a 1986 US court ruling.
An official with Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Ltd, which is
charged 48.07 percent anti-dumping duties and 10.90 percent
anti-subsidy duties, declined to comment, but said their general
manager in charge of international sales is now in the US to
investigate market conditions.
Li Shixin, a paper industry stock analyst at Guosen Securities,
said the impact on Chinese exports will not be big because their
exports are very small.
Less than 4 percent of Chenming's gloss paper exports went to
the US, but the company is already the second-largest exporter
after Gold East Paper (Jiangsu) Ltd.
According to figures from the Department of Commerce, the value
of Chinese gloss paper imports in 2006 was US$224 million, just 5
percent of the total US market. An article on the Shanghai WTO
Affairs Consultation Center's website said the combined use of
anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties highlights the trade
protectionism in US.
(China Daily June 1, 2007)