Washington, D.C. – Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), the leading exporter of coated paper from China and Indonesia, says it has not illegally dumped paper on the U.S. market and expects its position to be vindicated, despite today's preliminary ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce that exporters from China and Indonesia have sold their products in the United States at less than fair value.

"Once all of the evidence has been reviewed, the facts of the market will show that APP has not illegally dumped paper in the United States," said Terry Hunley, acting president, APP Americas. "We have seen unfavorable preliminary rulings in the past only to have them rejected in the final analysis because a complete review of the paper market confirms the U.S. industry has not been injured and duties are unwarranted. That will be the end result here, too."

The coated paper under investigation is typically used for printing multicolored graphics for catalogues, books, magazines, labels and wraps, greeting cards and other items requiring high-quality print graphics. A similar case was rejected by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in December 2007 because the domestic paper industry had not been harmed.

"Little in the paper market has changed since that ruling," Hunley said, "but the accusations are weaker and less justified today. Quarterly data analysis from the ITC indicates that coated paper import volumes from 2006 through the second quarter of 2009 did not change significantly and reflect recent historical levels. This undermines the argument that the U.S. market is being flooded with imported coated paper. Domestic shipments of coated paper are down because overall demand is down in this bad economy, not because of any alleged unfair practices of Chinese and Indonesian producers and importers."

In the current case, the preliminary anti-dumping (AD) duty margin applicable to APP product is 30.82 percent on products from China, and 10.62 percent on products from Indonesia.  Added to the preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) margins announced March 2, the total margins APP products are facing in these combined cases are 43.65 percent from China and 28.1 percent from Indonesia.

"We continue to vigorously defend our position because the United States and our customers here are an important and valued market for us," Hunley said. "There are no merits to the petitioners' accusations and restricting competition in the paper industry is un-American and will hurt U.S. printers and all consumers of coated paper products."

The Department of Commerce's final rulings on the AD and CVD cases are expected to be released in September. The last phase of the cases takes place in October or early November, when the U.S. International Trade Commission will determine if the U.S. paper industry has been harmed. Only an affirmative ruling at that time would lead to the imposition of an AD/CVD duty order on the coated paper in question from China and Indonesia.