The U.S. Commerce Department has given a tentative nod to the papermaker known as Appleton, announcing Wednesday that it has made a preliminary decision to levy duties on Chinese and German competitors for "dumping" lightweight thermal paper in the United States.

If upheld, Commerce would impose duties ranging from 2.3% to 132.95% on imports from producers found by the agency to have been underpricing their paper by those margins, harming Appleton's business.

"Dumping undervalued exports into the United States is unacceptable," Christopher A. Padilla, undersecretary for the International Trade Administration, said in a statement. "In this case, China's dumping was particularly egregious, and we have taken firm action in response. American producers are the most competitive in the world and deserve to compete on a fair playing field in the global marketplace."

Appleton-based Appleton has pleaded for the government sanctions, contending that the imports were sold in the United States at unfair and artificially low prices. Commerce said it would order the duties in November if the department and the U.S. International Trade Commission uphold the preliminary assessments.

"We trust that the ongoing reviews and audits of market data by these agencies will confirm our assertions of unfair market conditions and that their final decisions will address those inequities," Mark Richards, Appleton's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"This is finally a way for our government to start holding the Chinese government accountable for their illegal subsidizing in the paper industry," said Sally Feistel, a former sheeter operator at Appleton who recently became sub-district director of the United Steelworkers union.

Appleton is best known for making carbonless paper used in business forms, but it also produces about 60% of the nation's lightweight thermal paper, used in point-of-use printing on such items as lottery tickets and cash register receipts.

Commerce estimated that the 2007 value of lightweight thermal paper imported from China was $56.7 million, while the imports from Germany were $147.3 million.

Employee-owned Appleton has about 1,300 employees in Wisconsin and about 1,100 more in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and the United Kingdom. The company reported 2007 sales of $700 million.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle as well as members of Congress from Wisconsin and other states where Appleton operates had written to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez last month to make a case for Appleton.

U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton) suggested Wednesday that officials need to continue speaking out on the Appleton case. Last year, the International Trade Commission overruled a Commerce finding of unfair trade by makers of coated printing papers in China, Indonesia, and South Korea. That case was waged by the United Steelworkers union and NewPage Corp., which plans to close its mill in Niagara.

"We know from recent experience that appropriate decisions made by the Department of Commerce can be reversed by the ITC," Kagen said in a statement.

By JOEL DRESANG

jdresang@journalsentinel.com

Posted: May 7, 2008

Source: www.jsonline.com