U.S. halts dumping investigation against Indonesia paper producers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian pulp and paper industry is now free to ship more coated free-sheet paper to the United States following the decision of that country's International Trade Commission to throw out dumping charges.

Sinar Mas, one of the country's biggest producers, said Friday that the ITC had discontinued the investigation into coated paper products from Indonesia, China and South Korea as it had found no evidence that paper imports from these countries unfairly disadvantaged the U.S. paper industry.

Sinar Mas managing director G. Sulistiyanto said that the ITC had decided by a 5 to 1 vote during a meeting Tuesday that the dumping allegations had not been proved.

As result, the commission halted the investigation, with the result that coated paper imports from Indonesia will not be subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duties.

"The decision is important for us because if we had to pay the duties, our products would become less competitive," Sulistiyanto said in a press statement.

U.S. producers of coated free-sheet paper filed an anti-dumping complaint last year against imports from Indonesia, China and Korea, alleging that they had been materially injured by the imports.

The Indonesian government and Indonesian paper exporters -- PT Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia (Tjiwi Kimia) and PT Pindo Deli Pulp and Paper Mills (Pindo Deli), both subsidiaries of Sinar Mas -- denied the charges.

"Sinar Mas paper exports to the U.S. account for less than 4 percent of that country's total market. However, with this decision, we now have an opportunity to increase exports to the U.S."

He said the ruling would help Indonesia maintain one of its largest markets for paper exports, adding that the total value of coated free-sheet paper exports to the US could reach US$50 million per year. (tif)