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The Trade Ministry denied Friday dumping allegations made by
the United States government about Indonesian exports of coated free
sheet paper to the U.S.
Director of Trade Surveillance at the ministry, Martua Sihombing, said
that the dumping charges levied by the U.S. Commerce Department were
groundless.
By using raw materials sourced from fast-growing tree species,
Indonesian paper products, including coated free sheet paper, are
cheaper than those produced by other countries, he argued.
He said that the government, together with the paper industry, had
enough evidence to counter the dumping charges.
"We are cooperating with the Forestry Ministry and the Directorate
General of Taxes to collate all the available evidence," he told The
Jakarta Post.
The U.S. Commerce Department announced on Nov. 21 its decision to
initiate an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation into
imports of coated free sheet paper from Indonesia.
"This is the second allegation from the U.S. against Indonesian paper
products," Martua said.
Last year, the U.S. also launched a dumping investigation into imports
of certain lined paper products from Indonesia, and then increased the
import duty on them by up to 118 percent, in addition to the 33.3
percent preliminary countervailing duties already imposed, after
Indonesian paper producers refused to cooperate with the investigation.
"Now they are ready to cooperate with any investigation so that the
U.S. government will lift the countervailing duties," Martua said.
According to the International Trade Administration website, the
investigation covers coated free sheet paper and paperboard that is
generally used for writing, printing or other graphic purposes.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its
preliminary injury determination on Dec. 15, 2006.
According to the ITC, Indonesia exported 27 million kilograms of paper
worth nearly $22 million to the U.S. in 2005.
However, Martua claimed that Indonesia's paper exports to the U.S.
amounted to about 50 million kilograms every year.
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