China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has decided to reevaluate the
necessity of maintaining anti-dumping duties imposed four years ago
on coated art paper imported from the Republic of Korea and
Japan.
The review was launched Monday at the request of Japan's Oji
Paper Co. Ltd., which asserted that its alleged dumping range had
weakened since an anti-dumping duty of 56 percent was levied on
Aug. 6, 2003.
An MOC statement said the re-examination targeted coated art
paper imports from Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2007, and would
determine their normal value and exports prices so as to estimate
the dumping ranges.
Parties concerned must submit written submissions complete with
evidence within 20 days since the beginning of the review.
A special questionnaire will be distributed to relevant parties
who must reply with 37 days of its arrival. If necessary, parties
concerned may submit a written request for hearings. MOC
investigators will also carry out field surveys.
In its first anti-dumping investigation after joining the World
Trade Organization, the Chinese government imposed temporary
anti-dumping tariffs on coated art paper imported from the United
States, the ROK and Japan on Nov. 26, 2002.
Duties of 5.58 percent to 31.09 percent were imposed on at least
six major ROK paper makers, including Hansol, Shinho, Shinmoorim,
Hankuk, Kye Sung and Moorim. Japan's Nippon Paper Industries was
subject to an import duty of 23.89 percent import duty and Oji
Paper 56.52 percent.
The investigation was originally launched on the application of
four local paper manufacturers -- East Gold Paper, Shandong Quanlin
Paper, Jiangnan Paper Mill and Wanhao Paper Group -- which
accounted for 65.6 percent of the country's total output of coated
art paper in 2000 and 56.6 percent 2001.
Nine months later, a formal verdict was delivered, requiring
importers of the paper originating from the ROK and Japan to pay
duty ranging from four to 71 percent. But the investigations
against imports from the United States and Finland were
dropped.
Statistics from the Paper Chapter of the All-China Federation of
Industry and Commerce show China's coated art paper output rocketed
from 180,000 tons in 1998 to 3.8 million tons last year, with
850,000 tons exported globally.
In September, China filed its first World Trade Organization
complaint against Washington in five years on the anti-dumping
duties ranging from 23.19 percent to 99.65 percent that the United
States had planned to impose on the coated paper imports from China
that were mainly used for publishing color pictorials,
advertisements and packaging.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2007)
