Illegal Chinese Pencil Allegations Cause Stir

In a recent Timberlines blog post titled “Allegations of Illegal Chinese Pencils,” CalCedar CEO Charles “WoodChuck” Berolzheimer shared his thoughts on the decline of pencil production (and product manufacturing in general) in the United States and the recent illegal transshipment allegations that have been levied against a number of large U.S. retailers. Here is a small excerpt from his post:

“Today I estimate that less than 10% of U.S. pencil consumption consists of pencils actually manufactured in the United States… Perhaps 50% of the U.S. market today are pencils imported directly from China, despite the anti-dumping duties of 114% levied on Chinese pencils since 1994… Now, for the first time since implementation of the duties, it was made public in May that there is an active civil case proceeding against several large U.S. retailers and importers for participating in the importation of illegal transshipped Chinese pencils via countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam.”

He goes on to discuss the validity of the case and the allegations being made, and the affect this case is having on the pencil manufacturers who play by the rules. The post is part one in a series of posts that explore the impact this case could have on pencil manufacturing in the United States.

To read more of WoodChuck’s thoughts on the allegations, check out the blog post at Timberlines.