Catalyst Paper: Regarding CVD & AD Surcharge

In the near future, certain uncoated groundwood paper products imported into the United States from Canada may be subjected to U.S. countervailing (CVD) and/or anti-dumping (AD) duties. These duties arise from petitions made by North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC), a U.S.-based pulp and paper manufacturer, to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission that allege Canada’s UGW paper exports are unfairly priced and/or that Canadian federal and provincial governments subsidize domestic producers – including Catalyst – thereby placing U.S. manufacturers of uncoated groundwood paper at an unfair disadvantage.

I am writing to advise that Catalyst intends to implement price surcharges on our uncoated groundwood paper products we import into the USA that are subject to these CVD and AD duties. These surcharges will directly mirror the charges imposed on Catalyst by the U.S. Government. We will inform you of the level of Surcharge as soon as it becomes available.

Catalyst believes NORPAC’s allegations are completely unfounded and without merit. We have co-operated fully with the U.S. trade investigations, responding in comprehensive detail to the onerous requests for information. Although we remain optimistic about the ultimate outcome, we realistically anticipate that Catalyst will be assessed both CVD and AD preliminary duties as early as mid-January 2018.

We communicate our intention to implement surcharges on affected products with sincere regret, recognizing how increased cost pressures add unanticipated financial challenges to your own business. Rest assured that we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously against these allegations to avoid these punitive and burdensome duties, which only serve to threaten the availability of U.S. supply and reduce the competitive playing field which ultimately disadvantages U.S. businesses and consumers.