WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- This release is issued by King & Spalding: On October 27, 2009, the U.S. Department of Commerce ("Commerce") issued affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations of imports of polyethylene retail carrier bags from Indonesia and Vietnam, and published in the Federal Register an affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation of imports of polyethylene retail carrier bags from Taiwan. Commerce found that imports are being dumped, i.e., sold in the U.S. market at less than fair value, from all three countries. The preliminary dumping margins calculated by Commerce range from 67.18 percent to 67.62 percent for Indonesia, from 52.30 percent to 76.11 percent for Vietnam, and from 28.69 percent to 95.81 percent for Taiwan.

U.S. importers of polyethylene retail carrier bags (i.e., plastic grocery and shopping bags) from Taiwan are now required to post a bond or pay a cash deposit on each entry sufficient to cover the estimated antidumping duties. Importers also will have to post bonds or pay cash deposits for plastic bags from Indonesia and Vietnam as soon as those preliminary determinations are published in the Federal Register (which should occur within one week). In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("Customs") will suspend liquidation of those entries pending Commerce's final determinations in the investigations.

Petitioners' legal counsel, Joe Dorn, of King & Spalding in Washington, DC, stated: "The actions being taken today by the U.S. government to offset unfair prices with antidumping duties are greatly appreciated by the petitioning companies and their workers. The Commerce Department has found high margins of dumping from each country, and the antidumping duties should restore fair competition to the U.S. market. This will give these U.S. companies the opportunity to maintain U.S. plants and U.S. jobs instead of continuing to lose market share to unfairly priced imports."

Commerce initiated these investigations pursuant to a petition filed on March 31, 2009, by Hilex Poly Co., LLC, and Superbag Corporation. On May 14, 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") preliminarily determined by a unanimous vote that the domestic industry is materially injured by reason of dumped imports from Indonesia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Commerce will now proceed to final investigations, which must be completed within 135 days, and the ITC will make a final determination within 180 days. If Commerce and the ITC each make affirmative final determinations, Commerce will impose antidumping duty orders in March 2010.

The purpose of the antidumping law is to offset the unfair competitive advantage that foreign exporters enjoy as a result of selling merchandise in the United States at less than fair value. The law provides for antidumping duties to be collected on imports that are subject to an antidumping order. Customs assesses antidumping duties based on application of the percentage dumping margin to the entered value of the merchandise. The company-specific preliminary dumping margins are as follows:

King & Spalding LLP

Joseph W. Dorn, Esq.

202-626-5445

or

Stephen A. Jones, Esq.

202-626-2950

Source: King & Spalding LLP

<<Business Wire -- 10/29/2009>>