Local TV makers expect they will have the opportunity to fully express their views at an anti-dumping hearing to be held by the US Department of Commerce next April.

The hearing will be the next opportunity for them to prove their legitimacy after an investigation panel sent by the department finishes its work in China.

The panel was sent to four local companies -- Sichuan Changhong Electric Co, Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronic Co (Xoceco), Konka Group Co and TCL Holding Co -- earlier this month for on-the-spot checks.

The four companies were selected as respondents in the anti-dumping investigations into Chinese-manufactured color sets as the panel does not have the resources to investigate all 12 companies who responded to the case.

On November 24, the department said in a preliminary ruling that some Chinese television makers were dumping their products at 27.94 percent to 78.45 percent of their real prices in the US market.

By defining China as a non-market economy, the anti-dumping rules use costs of production in a surrogate country, where material and labor costs are much higher than in China, to calculate the normal value of Chinese exports.

This time, the United States chose India as the surrogate country, despite the fact that China's TV industry has a high degree of competition and is fully market-oriented.

(China Daily December 26, 2003)