In June 2023, Ninestar Corporation and certain Ninestar subsidiaries were banned from importing products into the United States due to a finding that the firms used forced labor in violation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) (see “Ninestar Imports Banned by U.S. Government Due to Forced Labor Concerns”). Despite what would appear to be a huge obstacle to its ability to import from its parent company, Ninestar Technology Company Ltd., Ninestar’s Chino, CA-based U.S. sales subsidiary, has managed to introduce new products every few months on the “What is new” section of its website Ninestartechonline.com. These are products specifically sold via wholesale to resellers in the United States. Indeed, a page on the website about shipping policies makes it clear that Ninestar Technology only ships its products to resellers in the United States.
New products announcements on the Ninestar Technology website
Of course, Ninestar Corporation is made up of various third-party supplies manufacturing subsidiaries that are not on the UFLPA Entity List of banned companies, and apparently these other subsidiaries are not subject to the embargo. For example, Ninestar Corporation either owns outright or holds a majority stake in Chinamate, Ink-Tank, Kingway, and Topjet, which all produce cartridges and are not on UFLPA Entity List. Like other Ninestar Corporation subsidiaries doing business in the United States such as Lexmark International or Static Control Components, Ninestar Technology may have switched its suppliers from within the larger Ninestar constellation of manufacturers to one not subject to the June 2023 ban.
Where Ninestar Technology ships
The ban notwithstanding, this week, on September 23, Ninestar Technology launched compatible versions of the Brother DR229 drums in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, as well as a four-pack of all four colors (the drums are rated at 30,000 pages each). The DR229 drums are used in the Brother HL-L3220CDW, HL-L3280CDW, HL-L3295CDW, HL-HL-L3300CDW, HL-L8245CDW, MFC-L3720CDW, MFC-L3765CDW, MFC-L3780CDW, and MFC-L8395CDW, which Brother introduced in October 2023 (see “Brother Introduces New Consumables in 29 New Color LED and Monochrome Laser Models”). Ninestar manufacturing companies that have introduced consumables for these same devices include Ninestar itself (see “Ninestar Launches Compatible Color Toner Cartridges for Brother’s Brand-New HL-L3220CDW Series”), Ink-Tank (see “Ink-Tank Launches Brother TN229-Series Compatible Toner Cartridges”), and Topjet (see “Topjet Says It Is First to Market with Slew of Brother Compatible Toner Cartridges”). However, all of these announcements from Ninestar consumables manufacturers focused on the cartridges only, not the drums.
Since the UFLPA ban has gone into effect, we’ve noted various new product introductions from Ninestar Technology. A few months back, the firm launched compatible versions of certain new HP TerraJet toner cartridges, for example. In June 2024, it introduced compatibles for the standard-yield HP 218A series (W2180A, W2181A, W2182A, and W2183A), which yield 1,300 pages for black and 1,200 pages apiece for cyan, magenta, and yellow, and the high-yield HP 218X series (W2180X, W2181X, W2182X, and W2183X), rated at 3,200 pages for black and 2,500 pages apiece for each color, as well as four-packs of the standard-yield and high-yield SKUs. These toner cartridges are used in the HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201 and Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301 introduced this year (see “HP Introduces Color LaserJet Pro 3000 Series Plus New TerraJet Toner Cartridges”). Ninestar Technology’s announcement said, “These are very new and popular products in the market. Ninestar Technology is only one who has these new products. Please prepare to sell now.”
As for potential sources among Ninestar companies for the HP compatibles, Ninestar itself launched alternatives to these HP toner cartridges in April (see “Ninestar Releases Compatible and Remanufactured G&G Toner Cartridges for HP Color LaserJet Pro Devices”). Compatible toner cartridges from Topjet followed in May (see “Topjet Rolls Out Compatible Toner Cartridges for HP Color LaserJet Pro 3200 and 3300 Series”).
Prior to the above two products launches, Ninestar Technology issued eight additional new product announcements on its website in the 15 months following its parent company being placed on the UFLPA Entity List. Because these introductions aren’t really “new” at this point, we won’t explore them further here. All the new Ninestar products, however, make us continue to question the effectiveness of the UFLPA ban. We must ask: Does an embargo work if only a small portion of a company’s production is banned from a market?
Consider the following hypothetical example: What if a large manufacturer with multiple brands like General Motors were banned from a market. How effective could that ban be if only certain brands were embargoed but the other brands could be imported? In this example, would it make sense for a ban to be placed only on GM vehicles, but allow the importation of Buicks, Cadillacs, and Chevrolets to continue?
Moving forward, we will take an occasional look at Ninestar Technology’s product launches for the U.S. market.
