Australia’s Anti-Dumping Commissioner is investigating newsprint paper imported from France and Korea, after a complaint from Norkse Skog Australia saying it is suffering ongoing damages thanks to alleged dumpers undercutting the already struggling market. Printers faced a buffeting in March as major Australian paper merchants KW Doggett, Spicers and BJ Ball upped their prices by up to 10 per cent – putting the blame squarely on ballooning supplier costs and a depreciating Aussie dollar. Manufacturers like Norske Skog in turn point the finger at cutthroat tactics of competitors in a dwindling marketplace as digital news platforms attract readers away from print. Norske Skog says newsprint volumes dropped into the Australian market by Korean and French competitors jumped around 60 per cent in FY2010 and just above 82 per cent in FY2012 – while the overall market has dwindled by about 40 per cent in the last four years. The company says that without anti-dumping measures its Australian future in newsprint is under threat, with losses likely to increase in coming years as the bulk of its sales are under contract and prices are already negotiated.
Ross Hampton, CEO of the Australian Forest Product Association
Ross Hampton, CEO of the Australian Forest Product Association, says, “Australian industry simply wants a level playing field on which to compete. We hope that this investigation will determine if newsprint paper is being sold at dumped prices or indeed expose further elements missing from the anti-dumping Act that would make it more effective. “The Act, if fully implemented, will help preserve Australian jobs and manufacturing capability that are threatened by dumping activity.” Norske Skog is the only domestic producer of newsprint paper in Australasia; facing structural decline for printed newspapers it has made recent moves to diversify its business into coated paper for catalogues and magazines. The paper giant says it cannot compete with the prices of the allegedly dumped newsprint, which it calculates as 12.85 per cent cheaper from the Korean sellers and 6.6 per cent from the French suppliers. It says imports from other nations are also struggling, and have fallen by 86 per cent. In 2010 Norske lost out to Korean supplier Jeonju Paper for the lion’s share of a newsprint contract with West Australian Newspapers – despite having supplied 90 per cent of WAN’s newsprint under a previous ten-year deal. Jeonju wrested 50 per cent of the business from Norske, which was left with a 12-month contract for 20 per cent, while UPM France picked up 30 per cent and a three-year deal. The company closed one of its newsprint producing machines at its New Zealand Tasman mill last year, and has already converted one of its newsprint producing machines at its Boyer Mill in Tasmania to churn out coated paper for the catalogue market instead; the $85m project received a $28m grant from the Australian government and a loan of $13m. However, in December it did manage to lock in long term contracts with two of Australia’s big four newspaper groups; with deals for newsprint and improved grade paper with News Limited and Fairfax set to run til mid-2020. Last year sales volumes for newsprint outside Europe declined by 26 per cent to 800,000 tonnes, with Australasian newsprint operating revenue at 2.65m (down from 3.19m in 2012). Norske claims that it was able to mask the true impact of the financial damage caused by the alleged dumping through cost cutting strategies in FY2012. The Anti-Dumping Commission’s initial report looks promising for the paper manufacturer; finding that “there appear to be reasonable grounds” for concluding that newsprint has been exported to Australia from France and Korea at dumped prices. It has not rejected Norske’s application for a dumping duty notice, which could lead to duties on the imported goods for a maximum of five years, and has recommended an investigation period covering April 2013 to March 2014 – with a report to the Parliamentary Secretary due on September 24 this year. The Commission says it is still working on its investigation of the alleged dumping of copy paper from China; with the report deadline extended to June 27, 2014.
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