In accordance with the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-dumping (hereinafter referred to as “the Regulations on Anti-dumping”), on April 10, 2015, the Ministry of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as “the Investigation Authority”) issued the Announcement No. 9 of 2015, under which the Investigation Authority decided to make anti-dumping investigations against imports of unbleached sack paper originated in the EU, the U.S. and Japan (hereinafter referred to as “the Products under Investigation”).

The Investigation Authority has investigated whether the Products under Investigation are dumped and dumping margin, whether the Products under Investigation damage domestic industry and the degree of damage, as well as the causality between dumping and damages. According to investigation results and Article 24 of the Regulations on Anti-dumping, the Investigation Authority has made the preliminary ruling (see the appendix). Relevant matters are hereby announced as below:

I. Preliminary Ruling

The Investigation Authority preliminarily ruled that imports of unbleached sack paper originated in the EU, the U.S. and Japan were involved in dumping, substantially damaging China’s unbleached sack paper industry, and there was causality between the dumping and substantial damages.

II. Collection of Deposits

According to Articles 28 and 29 of the Regulations on Anti-dumping, the Investigation Authority has decided to take temporary anti-dumping measures in the form of deposits. As of December 11, 2015, when importing the Products under Investigation, import operators shall provide corresponding deposits for the customs of the People’s Republic of China as per the deposit rates for all the companies determined by this preliminary ruling.

The details of the Products under Investigations are described as below:

Scope of investigation: imports of unbleached sack paper originated in the EU, the U.S. and Japan.

Name of products under investigation: Unbleached Sack Paper, or Unbleached Sack Kraft Paper, or Unbleached Bag Paper, Unbleached Extensible (Semi-Extensible) Sack (Kraft) Paper, etc.

Description: unbleached sack paper mainly uses unbleached or slightly bleached sulfate wood pulp (or may be mixed with other pulp such as waste paper pulp or bamboo pulp) as the main raw material, and is prepared through certain production technology (whether being processed through clupak equipment or not) and is a kind of high strength packing paper to be used for packing bags. Tensile resistance index (vertical and horizontal) ≥69 N.m/g; tearing index (vertical) ≥ 10 mN2/g; tensile resistance energy absorption index (horizontal) ≥ 1.0 J/g; tensile resistance energy absorption index (vertical) ≥ 0.8 J/g; air permeability ≥ 3.4μm/(Pa.s) and prolongation (vertical) ≥ 2%.

Main purposes: unbleached sack paper is a kind of special packing paper that is mainly used for producing packing bags of products such as cement, chemical products and food (e.g. rice, starch and flour).

The products are listed under tariff numbers of 48041100, 48042100, 48043100, 48044100 and 48045100 in the Customs Import and Export Tariff of the People’s Republic of China.

The deposit rates for all the companies are as follows:

The U.S. companies:
1. Kapstone Kraft Paper Corporation 14.9%
2. All Others
14.9%
The EU companies
1. BillerudKorsnäsSweden AB 23.4%
2. MondiStambolijski EAD 29.0%
3. BillerudKorsnäsFinland Oy 26.2%
4. Mondi Frantschach GmbH 26.2%
5. Mondi Steti a.s. 26.2%
6. Mondi Dynäs Aktiebolag 26.2%
7. All Others 29.0%

Japanese companies
1. Oji Paper Co., Ltd. 20.2%
2. Oji Materia Co., Ltd 20.2%
3. Chuetsu Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. 20.2%
4. Daio Paper Corporation 20.2%
5. Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. 20.2%
6. All Others 20.2%

III. Collection Method of Deposits

As of December 11, 2015, when importing unbleached sack paper originated in the EU, the U.S. and Japan, import operators shall provide deposits for the customs of the People’s Republic of China according to the dumping margins of all the companies determined by this preliminary ruling. The deposits shall be levied by means of ad valorem as per the duty-paid prices examined and approved by the customs, and the calculation formula thereof is: deposits = (duty-paid price examined and approved by the customs × deposit rate) × (1 + value-added tax rate in import link).

IV. Comments

Within 10 days after the issue of this Announcement, all interested parties may make comments in writing to the Investigation Authority.

Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China

December 10, 2015

Translated by Hou Zuowei, proofread by Eddiea.