Senco Applauds ITC for Preliminary Vote to Address Injury to Domestic Staple Producers

CINCINNATI, July 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyocera Senco Industrial Tools, Inc. (Senco), the nation's largest staple manufacturer, today applauded the U.S. International Trade Commission's (ITC) vote to continue investigations into dumped and unfairly subsidized collated staples from China. Commissioners voted 4-0 that China's staple imports, which account for over 85% of total imports, are materially injuring the U.S. industry. They found that imports from Taiwan and Korea were too small to continue investigating at this time.

The ITC's preliminary decision follows a recent announcement that the Department of Commerce (DOC) initiated investigations of imports of these products.

"Illegal trade practices take American jobs and hurt American businesses – they can devastate the entire market if left unchecked," said Cliff Mentrup, CEO of Senco. "While we are disappointed the ITC did not retain Taiwan and Korea in these cases, this is a very good day for us. We applaud the ITC for taking this step toward restoring fair competition to the U.S. market and confidence to U.S. workers and consumers. We look forward to seeing our trade laws enforced."

This process was put into motion on June 6, when Senco filed antidumping and countervailing petitions against China, Taiwan and Korea. In its petitions, the company asked the DOC and the ITC to impose duties on all three countries to offset unfair pricing, and additional duties against Chinese imports to offset unfair subsidies. Now that the ITC has made its initial determination, duties could be imposed on imports from China as soon as early-September 2019. 

The staples covered by Senco's petitions are used to build prefabricated houses, recreational vehicles, cabinets, modular homes, furniture, and on-site home construction, as well as many other applications. The company has been a world leader in developing these staples and related products, introducing numerous innovations since its origins in 1948. Today Senco operates in a 500,000 sq ft manufacturing and distribution facility in Cincinnati, Ohio where over 700 types of collated fasteners are manufactured today, including the collated staples covered by this petition. Senco has over 400 employees located in the manufacturing facility and throughout the U.S.

For more on the company's petitions, see the company's press release.
For more on the ITC's investigation, review the commission's press release.
For more on the DOC's investigation, review the agency's fact sheet here.

Contact Elizabeth Heaton, eheaton@EAHstrategiesLLC.com, 202-445-9858

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SOURCE Kyocera Senco Industrial Tools., Inc.