The preliminary antidumping rate for the Samling Group and 73 other engineered wood flooring manufacturers in China has been lowered, according to a memo from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) that was circulated Sunday.
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The preliminary antidumping rate for the Samling Group and 73 other engineered wood flooring manufacturers in China has been lowered, according to a memo from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) that was circulated Sunday.
Samling Group's preliminary antidumping rate will be lowered from 10.88 percent to 0.29 percent, while the 73 other companies participating in the antidumping investigation will have their rates lowered from 10.88 percent to 6.78 percent.
DOC's latest revisions give all three mandatory respondents in the investigation-the largest manufacturers by volume that sell engineered wood flooring to U.S. importers-an antidumping rate classified as "de minimis," or close to zero. The other two mandatory respondents are Zhejiang Layo Wood Industry Co. Ltd. and Zhejiang Yuhua Timber Co. Ltd. The revisions do not affect the preliminary countervailing duty rates handed down in March.
"The fact that all three are at zero is a great validation of our feelings on this case altogether," said Jonathan Train, president of the Alliance for Free Choice and Jobs in Flooring (AFCJF), whose group opposes the investigations. "It is becoming a complete waste of time."
DOC also revised the antidumping rate for any engineered wood flooring manufacturer in China that is not actively participating in the investigation; their revised antidumping rate is 27.12 percent, whereas originally it was 82.65 percent. DOC refers to this rate as the "PRC-Wide Entity" rate.
The Coalition for American Hardwood Parity (CAHP) is holding to its argument that only data most favorable to the companies opposed to the antidumping and countervailing duties has been presented to DOC thus far. As a result, Jeff Levin, counsel for the CAHP, said the latest action by DOC was "not surprising" and that his group still "fully expects the final rates to be substantially higher than the margins just issued."
On May 31, counsel for Samling Group submitted comments alleging DOC committed three "significant" errors in determining the company's original preliminary antidumping rate. Samling alleged DOC neglected to factor in warranty expenses on certain sales and that it miscalculated factory overhead and freight expenses. In its memo Sunday, DOC confirmed that it miscalculated Samling's overhead and freight expenses, but that it did not miscalculate any of the company's warranty expenses. Still, the errors warranted a re-calculation of antidumping rates for Samling and the other 73 companies. (For a full list of the antidumping rates assigned to specific exporters in China, see below.)
The new rates will become effective upon the DOC's memo being published in the Federal Register, which should occur this week. What's more, the rates are retroactive for orders that entered the U.S. since May 26.
The latest news is confirmation for Train that his group and others opposed to the trade investigations are having an impact, he says. "Three months ago you had a lot of people thinking that you couldn't change what the government is doing, and that it was a lost cause," he said. "We had a lot of people that didn't want to support our cause because they didn't think we could impact the results," adding that "to see this thing through we need another round of supporters to help us out. There is still a lot of work to do."
The Samling Group is comprised of Riverside Plywood Corporation, Samling Elegant Living Trading (Labuan) Limited, Samling Global USA Inc., Samling Riverside Co. Ltd., and Suzhou Times Flooring. At this point, the antidumping and countervailing duties are temporary and could be eliminated in the fall, when DOC is expected to make its final determination in each investigation.
A full list of the antidumping rates assigned to specific exporters in China is below: