Taipei, May 26 (CNA) The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has decided to impose anti-dumping tariffs on fine denier polyester staple fiber suppliers in Taiwan and three other countries, according to Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT).
In a final ruling issued on Thursday, DOC said those products from Taiwan, China, India and South Korea were being sold in the U.S. market at unfairly low prices, the BOFT said.
Far Eastern New Century Corp., one of the two Taiwanese mandatory respondents in the case, was slapped with a punitive duty of 48.86 percent due to its failure to respond to the DOC's questions, the bureau said.
However, no tariffs were imposed on the other mandatory respondent Tainan Spinning Co., as it had responded to the DOC's questions, the bureau said.
Other Taiwanese exporters of fine denier polyester staple fiber will be subject to a tariff of 24.43 percent, the BOFT added.
The anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Chinese firms ranged between 65.17 percent and 103.06 percent, while South Korean companies were slapped with tariffs of up to 45.23 percent, according to the DOC ruling. India exporters, meanwhile, were given a flat rate of 21.43 percent, the ruling showed.
The U.S. government launched investigations into dumping allegations against suppliers of fine denier polyester stable fiber from the four countries after DAK Americas LLC, Auriga Polymers Inc., and Nan Ya Plastics Corp., America filed a petition in March 2017.
According to the DOC, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) will issue final rulings in July on whether the imports from the four countries had hurt U.S. manufacturers.
Fine denier polyester stable fiber looks like cotton wool and can be woven into yarn to make textiles such as clothing and bed linen or used in its raw form to make products such as baby wipes and diapers.
The U.S., because of its relatively high consumption of hygiene and medical care products, is a major market for Taiwanese suppliers of fine denier polyester stable fiber, according to the BOFT.
In 2017, fine denier polyester stable fiber exports from Taiwan to the U.S. totaled US$7.43 million, accounting for 4.99 percent of the U.S.' total imports, which made Taiwan its sixth largest supplier, the BOFT said.
(By Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang)
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