Particleboard imports from Belgium, Spain and Italy may face anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 11.49 percent to 92.27 percent in South Korea.

  The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) said on Thursday that it decided to impose punitive anti-dumping tariffs on particleboard imports from the three countries in its recent preliminary ruling.

  ``The KTC found evidences that particleboard manufacturers from Belgium, Spain and Italy have sold their products at below fair market price in South Korea in its preliminary investigations,'' said Kim Han-jin, a KTC director.

  ``We also determined that those imports have incurred material injury to local manufacturers, including a drop in sale prices and a consistent drop in operating profit.''

  The KTC will conduct field investigations and hold open hearings with the foreign particleboard makers and their local rivals over the next three months before making its final ruling.

  However, KTC said it will not yet recommend that the Finance and Economy Minister impose the preliminary anti-dumping tariffs on foreign particleboard firms and will only start levying the punitive tariffs after the final verdict is made.

  The average penalty tariff rates were 11.49 percent for Belgian companies, 97.16 percent for Spanish firms and 50.15 percent for Italian firms. Belgian firms subject to preliminary anti-dumping tariffs include Unilin, Linopan, Spano and Agglo. Spanish firms include Utisa, Financiera and Turolense, and Italian firms include Fantoni and Frati.

The commission conducted its preliminary anti-dumping investigation into foreign particleboard makers after a petition was filed by the Korea Wood Panel Association (KWPA) last April. KWPA consists of four local particleboard makers, including Hansol HomeDeco, Dongwha Holdings and Sungchang Corp.

Particleboard is a wooden wallboard composed of wood chips or shavings bonded together with resin and compressed into rigid sheets.

The domestic particleboard market was estimated at 244.6 billion won and foreign imports accounted for 51.6 percent of the local market.