The US Department of Commerce has issued preliminary antidumping duty rates ranging from 22.14% to 63.96% in its ongoing investigation of Chinese-made hardwood plywood. Source: Furniture Today
The duties, which won’t be finalized until mid-July, could fall on top of the preliminary countervailing duties of 22.63% or 27.16% announced in March.
These rates also are expected to be finalized around July 15.
The duties stem from an investigation sought by US hardwood plywood producers last September into the pricing tactics of Chinese producers.
The US manufacturers also known as the Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood, allege that Chinese producers are shipping similar goods to the US at unfair prices below market value.
The US International Trade Commission has determined this has caused injury to the US producers.
Countervailing duties are applied in cases where the US government determines there is foreign government ownership or subsidization of manufacturers.
Antidumping duties specifically address the pricing of the goods.
“The coalition’s petition, and the US laws that address unfair trading, are not punitive but remedial,” said Jeff Levin, an attorney for the coalition. “We are not looking to punish anyone.”
The hardwood and decorative plywood addressed in the case is used in cabinetry, shelving, RVs and boats and some furniture.
The preliminary rates could change when final duties are announced in July. The duties are applied to the manufacturers, but paid by the importers of record of the goods in question.
The coalition said that based on the DOC’s findings, imports from all but two Chinese producers are subject to these preliminary duties. It added that the companies subject to duties account for more than 90% of the total hardwood plywood imports from China.
