Four Japanese Semiconductor Makers to Consider Anti-Dumping Suit against Korea

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported on Oct. 24 that Japan`s four semiconductor makers--NEC, Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi--had decided to request for a levy of anti-dumping duty from the Japanese government, charging that South Korea memory chip producers were dumping memory chips in Japan.

If the U.S. government`s move to impose restrictions on steel imports is followed by Japanese semiconductor makers` anti-dumping suit, then trade conflict over Korea`s major export items will become more serious.

Japanese firms, including NEC, alleged that Samsung Electronics, which takes the first place in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) operations in the world, and Hynix Semiconductor, the third, were confusing the market in Japan by unfair pricing. It is for the first time that Japanese firms raise a suspicion of dumping against foreign firms in the field of high-tech.

Semiconductor division executives from the four Japanese chipmakers had a meeting to discuss Korean makers` selling price and market share within Japan and decided to lodge a complaint as soon as the result of investigation comes out, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

Japan`s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will consider the complaint and set about an investigation into it within two months from the day it is lodged insofar as it has sufficient evidence, and make a decision regarding the charge of dumping.

An official at Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said, ``It is not clear whether the recent fall in the price of semiconductors has been caused by dumping exports or by the imbalance of supply and demand as a result of the global slump in demand.`` and continued that the decision to set about an investigation will be made carefully after a thorough examination of the fact when the firms request the government to levy anti-dumping tax.

Regarding this, Korean semiconductor makers said, ``The price of products exported to Japan is not much different from the global market price.`` and criticized, ``Japanese firms are targeting Korean, a leading country in the field of semiconductor, as they have been hit with heavy losses in their business operations.``

Samsung Electronics said, ``It seems unlikely that Japanese firms will file an anti-dumping suit because even Japanese firms, which are using Korean products, will be affected if the supply of Korean products is stopped by the anti-dumping suit.``

Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor export to Japan about 10~20 percent of their total exports, and the rate is being lowered as Japan`s economic slump is prolonged.

Park Won-Jae parkwj@donga.com