This Week in Imaging: A Look at What’s Happening with the the Ninestar Ban

by Kathleen Wirth · Published October 13, 2023 · Updated October 13, 2023

In June 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it had placed Ninestar Corporation of Zhuhia, China, and eight of its subsidiaries on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) list after it had determined that the company used forced labor. Consequently, Ninestar products, and those of the eight subsidiaries, including Ninestar, Pantum, and G&G toner cartridges, as well as Pantum printers, have been banned from entry into the U.S.

Since then, quite a bit has happened.

First, Ninestar denied that it used forced labor and sued the U.S. government, seeking to overturn the ban, including an injunction to stop the ban. The U.S. government responded by seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit.

On the financial side, for the first half of the year, Ninestar reported that its third-party cartridge sales were down 6.2 percent year-over-year, and its consumables’ business profit was down 42.8 percent year-over-year to $11 million (see Ninestar Reports Sharp Decline for First Half for more details).

With the U.S. ban, it doesn’t seem likely the situation is improving in the second half of the year. Considering that in its lawsuit against the U.S. government, Ninestar stated that its U.S. sales have almost completely stopped, this is more than likely.

Walmart and Amazon Response

Over at the Walmart website, there are no listings for either Pantum printers or toner cartridges, Ninestar toner cartridges, or G&G toner cartridges. However, at the Amazon website, there are still many listings for Pantum printers and Ninestar toner cartridges.

OEMs Respond

Printer and copier companies have also responded, stating that they’ve stopped sourcing products from Ninestar. This includes Lexmark, which is owned by Ninestar, but was not on the banned list of subsidiaries.

It will be interesting to see how Ninestar’s lawsuit turns out. One concern is that the DHS likely won’t wish to reveal how it determines products are made using slave labor, since manufacturers could use this information to disguise products made with forced labor. Meanwhile, Ninestar is locked out of the world’s largest economy, the United States, and is undoubtedly suffering from the ban. Accordingly, its share price on China’s Shenzhen stock exchange has dropped from a high of 53.55 CNY in February 2023 to 26.79 CNY today.

Last, there’s also the possibility that other countries – such as Japan and those in Europe – might follow suit and ban Ninestar’s products. If so, the consequences would likely be disastrous for Ninestar.

This Week in Imaging

Office Printers and MFPs

HP Previews New Officejet Pro, EvoMore Cartridges, and More at HP Imagine

Commercial and Production Printing

New Epson Wide-Format Photo Printer Features New Epson UltraChrome Inks

Canon Previews New varioPRINt iX1700 Digital Inkjet Sheet-Fed Press

HP Launches New DesignJet Large-Format Printer Portfolio at HP Imagine

Ricoh to Showcase New Digital Presses, Solutions at PRINTING United

Financial News

HP Forecasts Strong Profit for Upcoming Fiscal Year

Acquisitions

Toshiba Scheduled to Become Private Company By December 20th