WASHINGTON — The U.S. International Trade Commission gave the green light last week for the U.S. Commerce Department to continue an investigation into whether Chinese factories are dumping certain polyester staple fibers on the U.S. market.
The commission found there was a reasonable indication the U.S. industry was being hurt by polyester staple from China.
The investigation was prompted by a June petition from DAK Americas, Nan Ya Plastics Corp. and Wellman Inc. A preliminary determination from the investigation is due on or about Nov. 30.
DAK, Nan Ya Plastics and Wellman claim Chinese importers are competing unfairly by selling the staple, used as an insulating filling for products such as ski jackets and sleeping bags, at prices lower than those in China or below cost.
Last year, China shipped 194.9 million pounds of the “fiber for fill” to the U.S., valued at $111.6 million. The U.S. industry that produces the polyester staple consists of eight firms employing a total of 1,043 people, who turned out 552.4 million pounds of the fiber in 2005.
If the case is successful, duties would be levied on polyester staple imports from China.
Ricky Lane, corporate communications and trade relations manager for DAK, said Chinese producers receive an unfair advantage from government subsidies.
“Some of those producers choose to go to a margin that is not acceptable in the U.S.,” said Lane. “They are willing to go beyond their cost of manufacturing because they’re making money from the governmental incentive.”
DAK was also part of a successful antidumping case for polyester staple coming from South Korea and Taiwan. Antidumping cases, however, are expensive and often time-intensive exercises that are relatively uncommon in the textile sector.
“These products are coming in, are taking such a great share of the marketplace, that the corrective action needs to be extremely timely or it could be the demise of that industry in the United States,” said Lane.
The threat of additional duties from the case, however, could clamp down on imports from China.
“Realistically, importers are going to have to stop importing [polyester staple] from China, as of really the end of September….just because of the unknown of how much money they’re going to have to put up,” said Alasdair Carmichael, president of PCI Fibres, a market research firm.