Saccharin from China - USITC

PMC further described its reengineered production process as follows: “the volumes of outputare modest, but we are in an R&D piloting type of operation because the raw material inputs are veryexpensive and the unfortunate loss of some of the materials due to yield issues is very troubling.” 28When asked about future importation projections, PMC responded that it will try to covercustomer needs through domestic production; however, should the need arise to have imported saccharinit might be done. 29 When asked whether there are other saccharin producers around the world who use*** as a starting point in their production process, PMC responded that to the best of its knowlege noother producers of saccharin in the world are using this raw material right now. 30The Commission also requested that PMC provide a copy of its business plan or any internaldocuments that describe, discuss, or analyze expected future market conditions for saccharin. TheCommission further requested a specific projection of PMC’s capacity to produce saccharin for 2009 and2010. 31 PMC’s response in its entirety is presented in table III-5.Table III-5Saccharin: PMC business projections 2009-13* * * * * * *PMC projects 2009 production volume at *** pounds, and projects *** percent in 2010 and ***percent annually during 2011-13. Shipment volumes are projected at *** pounds for 2009 with ***percent in 2010, *** percent in 2011, and about *** percent during 2012-13. The number of productionand related workers is projected to *** during the period 2009-13.U.S. PRODUCER’S INVENTORIESInventories *** during 2003-06 before *** (table III-6).Table III-6Saccharin: U.S. producers’ end-of-period inventories, 2000-02 and 2003-08* * * * * * *U.S. PRODUCER’S IMPORTS AND PURCHASESTable III-7 presents PMC’s imports of saccharin from both subject and nonsubject countries. 32PMC reported ***. 33 In the final phase of the original investigation, PMC reported that it ***Table III-7Saccharin: U.S. producer’s production, imports of saccharin, and ratios of imports to production,2000-02 and 2003-08* * * * * * *28Transcript, p. 44 (Miller). ***. PMC responses to staff questions, April 21, 2009, p. 1.29Transcript, p. 74 (Bouligaraki).30Transcript, p. 79 (Bouligaraki).31U.S. producers’ questionnaire, section I-8 and section II-3.32PMC producers’ questionnaire response, section II-6.33PMC’s producers’ and importer’s questionnaire responses, sections II-13 and II-6, respectively.III-4