Argentina Imposes Anti-dumping Duties on CWF Paper

Argentina has imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of woodfree coated paper from the U.S., Finland, Austria and China. According to resolution 298/2012 issued on 21 June 2012 in the official gazette of the Argentine Republic, the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance decided to impose the anti-dumping duties in order to ensure fairer competition for local manufacturers.

The resolution is the culmination of anti-dumping investigations which the Argentine manufacturer of coated fine paper Ledesma set in motion in December 2010.

The duties came in force in 21 June 2012 and will remain in place for the next five years. They apply to one- and two-side coated paper and board grades in reels and in sheets and with a basis weight of between 80 and 200 gsm, excluding reels that are less than 15 cm wide. The duties are levied on FOB prices ad valorem and amount to 63.51% for imports from the U.S., 91% for imports from Finland, 98% for imports from Austria and 39.56% for imports from China.

The Argentine National Foreign Trade Commission (Comisión Nacional de Comercio Exterior) estimates the volume of the domestic coated paper market at around 42,000 tpy. According to the ministry, local manufacturer Ledesma steadily lost market shares in the past years although the company increased its production to around 33,000 tpy and apparent consumption in the country rose. While its share in domestic consumption still amounted to 23% in 2009, the figure dropped to just 19% in 2010.

Ledesma's paper prices dropped correspondingly along with its profitability. Findings of the Foreign Trade Commission revealed that dumping prices of importers from the U.S., Korea, Finland, Austria and China were responsible for this development.