The preliminary decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission means the Commerce Department will complete antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. The report on duties to be imposed will come in early March, the agency said.

In a 6-0 decision, the ITC found Friday "a reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports" of the paper, used primarily for high-quality print graphics.

U.S. consumption of the paper amounted to $1.9 billion in 2008, almost half of that imported. Chinese and Indonesian paper accounted for one-third of total imports.