PMC Specialties Group Inc. in St. Bernard, the only U.S. maker of the artificial sweetener saccharin, this week filed an unfair trade petition against the People's Republic of China.

        The petition accuses Chinese suppliers of “dumping” saccharin on the U.S. market, selling it here at prices less than the cost of producing it in China.

        The company said the action threatens the jobs of 60 employees at its Murray Road plant. The petition filed with the Department of Commerce's International Trade Commission seeks anti-dumping duties against Chinese suppliers ranging from 150 percent to 300 percent.

        The petition says over the three-year period ending last year, imports of Chinese saccharin jumped 150 percent from 1 million pounds to 2.6 million pounds.
       

Federated sells receivables

       Federated Department Stores Inc. said Friday it completed the sale of $1.2 billion in Fingerhut receivables — accounts with debt — to CompuCredit Corp., an Atlanta-based credit card company.

        The deal includes assumption of $450 million in debt issued by the Fingerhut Master Trust. Federated, the Cincinnati-based retailer that owns Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Lazarus stores, declined to release other terms of the deal.

— From staff reports

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