Several Japanese electronics companies – including Brother Industries Ltd and Panasonic’s parent, Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co – have been accused by the US Commerce Department of systematically dumping word processors in the United States at below what are considered fair market prices. If the International Trade Commission finds in favour of the dumping allegation the companies concerned could face import duties as high as 59%. That is the amount by which US companies have claimed they are being undercut in the word-processor market. The allegations arise from a petition filed last autumn by Smith Corona Corp of New Canaan, Connecticut, which claimed Japanese firms sold $119.5m of word processors in the US last year at unfairly low prices. However, Brother says it no longer imports word processors into the US, rather it manufactures them in the US. In response Smith Corona Chairman Lee Thompson said the companies concerned had merely set up screwdriver assembly plants to assemble computer components imported separately into the country. The Commission has 45 days to report and the investigation spans word processors imported as integrated systems or as major pieces of finished products – personal computers excluded.
