China Accuses Corning Of Dumping

By Agence France-Presse Corning Inc. said June 16 it had received a preliminary determination from the Chinese trade ministry that it had dumped U.S.-made "single-mode optical fiber," causing injury to Chinese producers. The preliminary ruling against Corning means Chinese importers of its optical fiber must make a cash deposit equal to 16% of the price to the Chinese customs authorities. "Corning is not able to estimate the impact of this preliminary determination on its fiber export business to China, but if the ruling holds it could have a significant negative impact on the company's ability to export fiber into China," the Corning, N.Y.-based firm said in a statement. Potential losses should not exceed 1 cent a share in the second half of 2004, it said. Corning said the Chinese ministry began an investigation July 1 of last year against producers in the United States, Japan and South Korea. "Corning believes that it has not dumped optical fiber into China and that the company has not caused injury to Chinese domestic producers," Corning Optical Fiber general manager Robert Brown said in a statement. "We are extremely disappointed with this preliminary determination and we will continue to cooperate with the MOC [ministry of commerce] through the final determination to prove our position," he said. The preliminary ruling would not affect output from Corning's majority owned venture Shanghai Fiber Optics Co., the company said. A final ruling by China was expected later this year. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004