The U.S. will soon put into effect anti-dumping duties on yarn imported from four Asian countries, after a U.S. International Trade Commission panel unanimously found that the products were economically harming domestic companies.

The ITC issued its ruling on Tuesday, one month after the U.S. Department of Commerce determined that Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese producers of polyester textured yarn — predominantly used to weave and knit synthetic fabrics for clothing, footwear and upholstery — were selling their products in the U.S. at unfairly low prices. To rectify the situation, Commerce teed up anti-dumping duties of up to 56.8%.

"As a result of the commission's affirmative determinations, Commerce will issue antidumping duty orders on imports of this product from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam," the ITC said.

The ITC and Commerce have separately been investigating the imports after receiving an October 2020 trade petition from two yarn manufacturers, Unifi Manufacturing Inc. of North Carolina and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. of South Carolina.

The U.S. companies argued that yarn imports from the four countries — which accounted for more than half of the polyester textured yarn entering the U.S. in 2019, according to the petition — were being dumped in the U.S. The companies said the damage would continue without federal intervention, pointing out that the four countries had stepped up their importing activity in recent years and had quickly replaced China and India as the largest source of imported yarn for the U.S.

Commerce had previously enacted remedial duties on Chinese and Indian polyester textured yarn, but dumping activity from the other countries had erased the benefits of those levies, the U.S. companies added.

They estimated that the four countries were dumping their yarn at margins as high as 65%. However, the duties that will go into effect are more subdued. Commerce calculated anti-dumping levies of 7.47% to14.47% for Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai companies, and a 22.36% tariff for businesses within a "Vietnam-wide entity." A handful of companies that didn't cooperate with the investigation face anti-dumping duties of 26.07% to 56.8%.

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP's Paul Rosenthal, counsel for the U.S. companies, welcomed ITC's ruling in a statement on Wednesday.

"The domestic industry has suffered from successive waves of unfair imports. Thanks to the hard work of the ITC and Commerce Department, U. S. producers and their workers will have some much-needed relief," Rosenthal said.

Embassies for the four countries didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

The U.S. yarn producers are represented by Paul Rosenthal, Kathleen Cannon, David Smith, Melissa Brewer and Julia Kuelzow of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

The investigation is Polyester Textured Yarn from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, investigation numbers 731-TA-1150-1553, in the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Source: Law360