Australian Paper welcomes Federal Government decision to impose tariff on cheap imports



Australian Paper welcomes Federal Government decision to impose tariff on cheap imports | Australia, paper, tariffs, duties,

AUSTRALIA (From ABC Online) -- Australia's only manufacturer of office paper has welcomed a move to impose import duties on A4 copy paper from Indonesia, China, Thailand and Brazil.

Australian Paper, based in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, has been pushing for action against cut-price paper since last year, when the Anti-Dumping Commission found paper was being imported to Australia at less than cost price.

The Federal Government announced on Wednesday it would impose the tariff.

A spokesperson for the company, Craig Dunn, said the decision confirmed the imports were damaging the local industry.

He said the decision would provide security for the Maryvale-based business.

"It's definitely welcome by Australian Paper, it just brings more market certainty to bear and it will allow us to underpin continued investment at Maryvale into the future," he said.

"It would have been great if it could have happened sooner, but we certainly had a lot of faith in the Anti-Dumping Commission's independence and in their ability to run a rigorous process."

Mary Aldred from business lobby group, the Committee for Gippsland, said the tariff would address the long-running issue for one of the Latrobe Valley's major employers.

"I think what it will do is provide the Nippon Paper Group, which is Australia Paper's parent company, with a long-term sustainable welcoming investment signal that they have all of the support to be able to confidently continue to invest in the Latrobe Valley."

Last year, Labor senator Kim Carr accused the commission of dragging its feet in investigating cheap paper imports.