For Immediate Release: May 7, 2008
Contact: Brittany Eck (202) 482-3809
COMMERCE FINDS UNFAIR DUMPING OF LIGHTWEIGHT THERMAL PAPER FROM CHINA AND GERMANY
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigations on imports of lightweight thermal paper (LWTP), commonly used for printed receipts, from China and Germany.
“The Administration is actively enforcing U.S. trade laws on behalf of American workers,” said Under Secretary for International Trade Administration Christopher A. Padilla. “Dumping undervalued exports into the United States is unacceptable. In this case, China’s dumping was particularly egregious, and we have taken firm action in response. American producers are the most competitive in the world and deserve to compete on a fair playing field in the global marketplace.”
Commerce preliminarily determined that German and Chinese exporters sold LWTP in the United States at less than fair value. Two respondents participated in the China investigation. The mandatory respondent, Shanghai Hanhong Paper Co., Ltd., received an antidumping rate of 132.95 percent, and the voluntary respondent, Guangdong Guanhao High-Tech Co., Ltd., received a rate of 2.30 percent. All other Chinese exporters received an antidumping rate of 132.95 percent. The preliminary determination for the companion countervailing duty (CVD), anti-subsidy investigation against China was previously announced on March 10, 2008. The preliminary duty for the mandatory respondents in the CVD investigation ranged from 0.57 percent for Shanghai Hanhong to 59.50 percent for two respondents who failed to participate in the investigation.
Germany’s mandatory respondent, Papierfabrik August Koehler AG and Koehler America, Inc., and all other German exporters of LWTP received an antidumping rate of 6.49 percent.
LWTP is a paper coated with chemicals that react to form images when exposed to heat. It is regularly used as printed receipts from transactions with ATMs, credit cards, gas pumps, and retail stores. The petitioner for these investigations is Appleton Papers, Inc. (WI).
Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than fair value. If Commerce issues a final affirmative determination of dumping, and if the U.S. International Trade Commission makes a final determination that imports of LWTP from Germany and China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will issue an antidumping duty order.
For more information about Import Administration, or for the fact sheet on today’s decision, please visit www.trade.gov/ia.
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