diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/ConstantValueParser.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/ConstantValueParser.java
index 8304eb0ee..3fbbee12a 100755
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/ConstantValueParser.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/ConstantValueParser.java
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
 
 package org.apache.poi.hssf.record.constant;
 
-import org.apache.poi.hssf.record.UnicodeString;
-import org.apache.poi.hssf.record.UnicodeString.UnicodeRecordStats;
 import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndianInput;
 import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndianOutput;
 import org.apache.poi.util.StringUtil;
@@ -65,7 +63,7 @@ public final class ConstantValueParser {
 			case TYPE_NUMBER:
 				return new Double(in.readDouble());
 			case TYPE_STRING:
-				return new UnicodeString(StringUtil.readUnicodeString(in));
+				return StringUtil.readUnicodeString(in);
 			case TYPE_BOOLEAN:
 				return readBoolean(in);
 			case TYPE_ERROR_CODE:
@@ -111,10 +109,8 @@ public final class ConstantValueParser {
 		if(cls == Boolean.class || cls == Double.class || cls == ErrorConstant.class) {
 			return 8;
 		}
-		UnicodeString strVal = (UnicodeString)object;
-		UnicodeRecordStats urs = new UnicodeRecordStats();
-		strVal.getRecordSize(urs);
-		return urs.recordSize;
+		String strVal = (String)object;
+		return StringUtil.getEncodedSize(strVal);
 	}
 
 	public static void encode(LittleEndianOutput out, Object[] values) {
@@ -142,10 +138,10 @@ public final class ConstantValueParser {
 			out.writeDouble(dVal.doubleValue());
 			return;
 		}
-		if (value instanceof UnicodeString) {
-			UnicodeString usVal = (UnicodeString) value;
+		if (value instanceof String) {
+			String val = (String) value;
 			out.writeByte(TYPE_STRING);
-			StringUtil.writeUnicodeString(out, usVal.getString());
+			StringUtil.writeUnicodeString(out, val);
 			return;
 		}
 		if (value instanceof ErrorConstant) {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/ArrayPtg.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/ArrayPtg.java
index 3fcc23eda..7d4f65acd 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/ArrayPtg.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/ArrayPtg.java
@@ -206,8 +206,8 @@ public final class ArrayPtg extends Ptg {
 		if (o == null) {
 			throw new RuntimeException("Array item cannot be null");
 		}
-		if (o instanceof UnicodeString) {
-			return "\"" + ((UnicodeString)o).getString() + "\"";
+		if (o instanceof String) {
+			return "\"" + (String)o + "\"";
 		}
 		if (o instanceof Double) {
 			return ((Double)o).toString();
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/util/StringUtil.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/util/StringUtil.java
index 8a57d2340..263f45e1e 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/util/StringUtil.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/util/StringUtil.java
@@ -162,6 +162,15 @@ public class StringUtil {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @return the number of bytes that would be written by {@link #writeUnicodeString(LittleEndianOutput, String)}
+	 */
+	public static int getEncodedSize(String value) {
+		int result = 2 + 1;
+		result += value.length() * (StringUtil.hasMultibyte(value) ? 2 : 1);
+		return result;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Takes a unicode (java) string, and returns it as 8 bit data (in ISO-8859-1
 	 * codepage).
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/TestConstantValueParser.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/TestConstantValueParser.java
index a72d0e1ae..6ed2c6245 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/TestConstantValueParser.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/constant/TestConstantValueParser.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 import org.apache.poi.hssf.record.TestcaseRecordInputStream;
-import org.apache.poi.hssf.record.UnicodeString;
 import org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFErrorConstants;
 import org.apache.poi.util.HexRead;
 import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndianByteArrayOutputStream;
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ public final class TestConstantValueParser extends TestCase {
 			Boolean.TRUE,
 			null,
 			new Double(1.1),
-			new UnicodeString("Sample text"),
+			"Sample text",
 			ErrorConstant.valueOf(HSSFErrorConstants.ERROR_DIV_0),
 		};
 	private static final byte[] SAMPLE_ENCODING = HexRead.readFromString(
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/TestArrayPtg.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/TestArrayPtg.java
index 94a16b382..5dab4cca1 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/TestArrayPtg.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/formula/TestArrayPtg.java
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ public final class TestArrayPtg extends TestCase {
 		
 		
 		assertEquals(Boolean.TRUE, values[0][0]);
-		assertEquals(new UnicodeString("ABCD"), values[0][1]);
+		assertEquals("ABCD", values[0][1]);
 		assertEquals(new Double(0), values[1][0]);
 		assertEquals(Boolean.FALSE, values[1][1]);
-		assertEquals(new UnicodeString("FG"), values[1][2]);
+		assertEquals("FG", values[1][2]);
 		
 		byte[] outBuf = new byte[ENCODED_CONSTANT_DATA.length];
 		ptg.writeTokenValueBytes(new LittleEndianByteArrayOutputStream(outBuf, 0));