China’s Ministry of Commerce has lifted a special antidumping tariff imposed on Corning Inc.’s exports to China of a particular type of optical fibre, but maintained the surcharge on fibre from other companies, the ministry announced Tuesday.
For Corning, the latest decision means the immediate lifting of a 16 per cent “dumping margin” surcharge imposed last June on its exports of dispersion-unshifted single-mode optical fibre into the Chinese market. The ministry ruled that although there had been a difference of 1.52 per cent between the price Corning charged for the fibre in its home market and the price it charged in China, that difference was below the threshold at which a dumping margin could be imposed.
The decision on Jan. 1 marks the end of an investigation the ministry began on July 1, 2003 to determine whether U.S., South Korean and Japanese companies were selling fibre in China at an unfairly low price — an action known as dumping. In a preliminary ruling on June 16, 2004, the ministry found that the products were being dumped, and that this was injuring Chinese fibre manufacturers. The surcharges on imported products are designed to protect local companies.
China has now imposed a dumping margin of 46 per cent on standard single-mode fibre from other U.S. companies, including OFS Fitel LLC of Norcross, Georgia, the only one specifically named in the announcement.
Japanese and South Korean companies are also affected by the tariffs. From Jan. 1, the dumping margin on fibre from LG Cable Ltd. of Seoul is seven per cent, and 13 per cent for Optomagic Co. Ltd., of Kyungki-do, South Korea. For Japanese and other Korean companies, the surcharge is 46 per cent, the ministry said.