The U.S. Department of Commerce announced its preliminary duties in the anti-dumping case against Chinese manufacturers of plywood yesterday, despite being unable to prove the investigated companies "dumped" their product on the market. This is the latest step in the investigation that began February.
The two individually investigated Chinese companies received rates of 0.62 percent and 1.83 percent, while the 101 cooperative "separate rate" companies received a rate of 22.14 percent. The China-wide rate, which serves as a penalty to non-cooperating companies, is set at 63.96 percent. The duties are meant to level the field so American manufacturers can compete with Chinese companies capable of offering lower prices though subsidies and other advantages.
While this is a win for the petitioning Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood (CFTHP), which originally requested a 300 percent tariff to make up for the below-market price the Chinese companies were able to offer, groups like the International Wood Products Association (IWPA) and the American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood (AAHP) expressed outrage. They say the U.S. government found no evidence of unfair pricing in its investigation but assigned the tariffs anyway, and the duties will have serious effects on the U.S. economy.
"U.S. industries that rely on a ready supply of hardwood plywood were already reeling from the supply disruptions caused by the Countervailing Duty (CVD) rates released in February; these new preliminary antidumping rates will only increase market uncertainly. Many small businesses will find themselves struggling to predict their own costs for project bids for things like a kitchen remodel in the wake of this decision," said Cindy Squires, executive director of IWPA.
"Importers and manufacturers are already seeing alarming market signs in both import and domestic supply based on the CVD preliminary announcement," AAHP co-chair Greg Simon said in a statement. "These unfair duties will be felt throughout the imported and domestic supply chain by many U.S. manufacturers and the thousands of people that they employ."
At this time, the CFTHP has yet to release a statement.
