The US Department of Commerce on Friday last week said that it has launched an anti-dumping investigation into certain collated steel staples imported from Taiwan, South Korea and China.
The probe would determine whether firms in Taiwan, South Korea and China sold collated staples in the US market at unfairly low prices, the department said in a statement.
The investigation was launched after Kyocera Senco Industrial Tools Inc, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, accused the firms of dumping collated staples into the US market and undermining market competition, the department said.
The alleged dumping margins are 47.6 percent for staple products imported from Taiwan, 119.37 to 122.55 percent for those from China and 10.23 to 14.25 percent for South Korean products, it said.
Kyocera also filed a petition accusing China of breaching US anti-subsidy regulations by providing 27 unfair subsidy programs, the department said, adding that an investigation has been launched into the allegation.
The subsidy programs include five preferential loan and interest rate programs, two export credit programs, five income tax and other direct subsidy programs, four indirect tax programs, six grant programs and five less-than-adequate remuneration programs, it added.
The US International Trade Administration would launch its own investigations into the anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty claims, the department said.
The agency is to reach a preliminary decision by July 22 on whether the products have caused damage to the US market.
The department said that it would announce its preliminary rulings on the countervailing duty investigation on Sept. 3 and the anti-dumping probe on Nov. 14.
US imports of collated staples from Taiwan, China and South Korea were estimated at US$5.1 million, US$88.8 million and US$6.9 million respectively, department statistics showed.
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