Chinese color television manufacturers have entrusted a national
industry organization to negotiate with the US Department of
Commerce over proposed anti-dumping tariffs.
The China Chamber of Commerce for Imports and Exports of
Machinery and Electronic Products said it has united domestic TV
producers and lawyers to argue against dumping charges made earlier
this week by the United States.
"We are collecting material related to the dumping charge and
will seek communication opportunities with the US department," said
Liu Mei, vice president of the chamber.
"It is a pity that the US department has adopted an unfair
calculating method to count Chinese TV makers' dumping
margins."
The US department said in a statement that its preliminarily
investigation found four Chinese color television receiver
producers were selling their products in the American market at
less than fair value, with margins ranging from 27.94 percent to
45.87 percent.
The four companies are Konka Group Co,
Sichuan Changhong Electric Co, TCL Holding Co and
Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronic Co.
If the US International Trade Commission makes a final
affirmative conclusion on dumping duties for Chinese TV makers next
year, all Chinese color TV producers will have to pay anti-damping
tariffs.
The chamber disagrees with the US Commerce Department's
methodology of deciding a fair price for Chinese televisions.
The department looked at the production costs in India as a fair
comparison.
Some 70 to 80 percent of electric parts used to produce TV sets
in China are bought through large-scale sourcing from global
markets, noted one official from the chamber, who declined to be
identified.
That, alongside the low labor costs in China are the two major
reasons why the prices of made-in-China color TV sets are lower
than those in India, said the official.
Liu Haizhong, a spokesman for Sichuan Changhong, said his
company is working closely with the chamber to fight against the
case.
Changhong makes 86.7 percent of color TV sets sold to the US
market last year.
Separately, the chamber said yesterday US-based Gleason
Industrial Products has filed a petition with the US Commerce
Department asking for an anti-dumping investigation on trucks made
in China.
(Xinhua?News Agency?November 28, 2003)
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