Imported Paper Final Ruling Is Near

WASHINGTON, DC—The Commerce Department (DOC) has issued final anti-dumping and countervailing duty margins on coated paper imports from China and Indonesia, providing a victory for domestic paper producers that may be short lived. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will hold a final vote this month to ultimately determine whether domestic paper producers were harmed by the subject imports.

This current case was brought in September 2009 following a complaint by NewPage, Appleton Coated, Sappi Fine Paper North America and the United Steelworkers (USW).

The anti-dumping margins announced by the DOC on imports from Indonesia were 20.13 percent, and ranged from 7.6 percent to 135.83 percent on imports from China. Countervailing duties on products from Indonesia will be subject to tariffs of 17.94 percent, and on Chinese imports ranging from 17.64 percent to 178.03 percent. If the ITC votes affirmatively in its upcoming injury determination, these rates will apply for the term of the relief. The ITC was slated to vote on Oct. 19, followed by the transmittal of its views to the DOC on Nov. 4.

The companies and the USW filed unfair trade cases with the DOC and ITC on Sept. 23, 2009, alleging that certain coated paper from China and Indonesia had been dumped and subsidized, resulting in injury to the domestic industry and its employees.

The paper products covered by the petitions include coated paper in sheet form used in high-quality writing, printing and other graphic applications, with a GE brightness rating of 80 or higher and weighing up to 340 grams per square meter.

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), an exporter of coated paper from China and Indonesia, believes the DOC adopted questionable calculation methodologies in rendering its final determination, and feels "more proper" methodologies would have yielded little to no AD/CVD duties. PI