The U.S. Court of International Trade has upheld a customs duty on petroleum wax candles imported from China, the National Candle Association announced Monday.

"This ruling will continue to protect U.S. candle manufacturers and their suppliers from the unfair dumping of inexpensive petroleum wax candle imports from China," the group said in a statement. https://prn.to/2IXqfWt

The 108.3 percent duty on nearly all petroleum wax candles from China had been challenged by a U.S. candle importer.

"This is a win for American-made candles. We hope that this ruling will send a clear message to anyone trying to circumvent the antidumping duty," Carol Freysinger, executive vice president of the National Candle Association, said in the statement. "We will fight to the end to protect fair and reasonable competitive balance for the U.S. candle industry."

According to the statement, cheap candle imports from China have driven many U.S. candle companies out of business since the 1970s. NCA filed a petition with the International Trade Commission and the first U.S. antidumping duty was imposed at 54.21 percent in 1986, and was eventually raised to the current level.

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