South Korea is moving to freshly impose antidumping tariffs on Japanese aluminium bottle cans, the government said Thursday.

Following a yearlong investigation that began at the request of a local manufacturer, TechPack Solutions Inc., the Korea Trade Commission concluded that Japanese products were effectively damaging local manufacturers by preventing them from establishing firm ground for their business here.

“The commission’s decision is the first of its kind in which the commission applied antidumping clauses to a case where the foundation of a business has been delayed due to dumping activities by foreign competitors,” the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a press release.

South Korea’s market for aluminium bottle cans came to about 20.7 billion won ($19 million) in 2011 with Japanese products accounting for 98 percent of all supplies.

Such a large market share, partly enabled by dumping activities, of Japanese products is currently keeping the local manufacturers’ rate of operation at little over 16 percent, according to the ministry.

The trade commission plans to recommend an average 4.59 percent antidumping duties be imposed on Japanese aluminium bottle cans for the next three years.

Such a recommendation will soon be filed with the country’s finance ministry, which then has to make a final decision on the alleged dumping activities and measures to correct such activities within 50 days from the commission’s recommendation. (Yonhap News)