Friday, November 17, 2006

Duties on Activated Carbon from the People's Republic of China

Effective on October 11, 2006, duties on steam activated carbon from the People's Republic of China will have duties imposed between 13.78% to 228.11%.

What does this mean?
Res-Kem has been visited and/or notified by our suppliers that all activated carbon prices are increasing to a greater or lesser degree.

How can Res-Kem help?
Res-Kem has anticipated that this may occur. Through our buying power and our good working relationships with our key activated carbon vendors, we have options to help reduce the impact of the price increases.

What happened?
On October 4, 2006, David Spooner, Assistant Secretary for Import Administration at the US Department of Commerce, USDOC, issued a "Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Postponement of Final Determination: Certain Activated Carbon From the People's Republic of China". Click here for the full text of the release.

Why did this happen?
On March 8, 2006, the USDOC, received a petition on imports of certain activated carbon from the PRC from Calgon Carbon Corporation and Norit Americas Inc because they felt the products were being sold at "Less Than Fair Value" a.k.a. "Dumped". This investigation was initiated on March 28, 2006.

USDOC Summary of Determination
"SUMMARY: We preliminarily determine that certain activated carbon from the People's Republic of China ("PRC'') is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value ("LTFV''), as provided in section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended ("the Act''). The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are shown in the "Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice."

What's Next?
The USDOC will make a final determination early next year.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Res-Kem Re-Certified by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

On October 23, 2006, the Department of General Services, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, re-certified Res-Kem Corp as a Woman Business Enterprise.