ITC approves antidumping duties for Chinese ironing tables, plastic bags

ITC approves antidumping duties for Chinese ironing tables, plastic bags    In a 6-0 vote Thursday, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that imports of Chinese ironing tables and plastic bags injure American manufacturers of these products.
   The imposition of antidumping duties requires final affirmative determinations both from the Commerce Department that dumping occurred, and from the ITC that the imports hurt domestic industry. Dumping is the import of goods at a price below the domestic market or a third-country price or below the cost of production.
   In a June final determination, the Commerce Department said the dumping margins for the Chinese ironing tables reached up to 113.80 percent. U.S. imports of ironing tables from China amounted to about $673 million in 2003 and $713 million in 2002.
   The Commerce Department also concluded in June that dumping margins on Chinese plastic bags ranged up to 77.63 percent for China. The United States imported about $183.8 million worth of plastic shopping bags from China last year.
   A dumping margin represents by how much the fair-value price exceeds the dumped price.