The United States has set preliminary anti-dumping duties ranging from 90 to nearly 175 percent on about $30 million worth of electric blankets from China, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday, January 27.
The ruling is a victory for Jarden Consumer Solutions, a Florida-based subsidiary of consumer products company Jarden Corp (JAH.N). It filed a petition earlier this year asking for protection against its Chinese competitors.
The relatively small case is of one several ongoing U.S. investigations into charges that Chinese companies are selling their goods in the United States at unfairly low prices and benefit from unfair government subsidies.
The products covered by the probe include finished, semi-finished, and unassembled woven electric blankets of all sizes and fabric types, whether made of man-made fiber, natural fiber or a blend of both.
Commerce set a preliminary anti-dumping duty of 90.32 percent on blankets supplied by Hung Kuo Electronics (Shenzhen) Company Ltd, Ningbo V.K. Industry & Trading Co Ltd, Ningbo Jifa Electrical Appliances Co Ltd and Ningbo Jinchun Electric Appliances Co Ltd.
The United States imported $29.7 million of the blankets from China in 2008, a 16.8 percent increase from 2006. (Source: Doug Palmer, Reuters, Jan 27, 2010).