WASHINGTON — Antidumping and countervailing duty orders have been finalized for multilayered wood flooring from China. The International Trade Administration published the final determination Dec. 8 in the Federal Register..
The definition of multilayered flooring used for the determination is that of an engineered wood product that contains plies of veneer and a core material, such as particleboard, MDF, high-density fiberboard, plywood, etc. Laminate flooring is excluded under the scope of the order because it contains a wear layer and decorative paper layer not made of wood. Cork flooring and bamboo flooring products are also excluded.
The decisions were based on final determinations by the Department of Commerce (Oct. 18) and on an “affirmative decision of material injury to a U.S. industry” by the International Trade Commission, on Dec. 1. The range U.S. subheadings of the products under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule include: 4412.31, 4412.32, 4412.39, 4412.94, 4412.99, 4418.71 and 4418.72.
The Commerce Department said it would instruct the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assess antidumping duties on products dating back to May 26, 2011, the date that the preliminary determination was published. The CBP will now require “cash deposits equal to the estimated weighted-average antidumping duty margins.” The majority of the estimated 100 companies will pay a weighted average margin of 3.30 percent.
A countervailing duty will also be assessed on multilayered flooring from China entering and sold in the United States. The majority of companies affected have been assigned a net subsidy rate of 26.73 percent.
Multilayered flooring that entered the United States between Aug. 4 and the publication date of the ITC’s final determination in the Federal Register will not be subject to countervailing duties, according to the Commerce Department, “due to the Department’s discontinuation of the suspension of liquidation,” during that time.
The issue came to the forefront in October 2010 following claims by the Coalition for American Hardwood Parity that imports of multilayered wood flooring were “sold in the United States at dumped prices, and that Chinese manufacturers have gained an unfair competitive advantage.”
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, imports of multilayered wood flooring totaled approximately $310 million in 2010, slightly more than half of the nation’s total consumption.
Karen M. Koenig has more than 25 years of experience in the woodworking industry, including visits to wood products manufacturing facilities throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As Editor-in-Chief of Wood & Wood Products, Karen’s primary responsibilities include spearheading the writing, editing and coordinating of the editorial content of the publication, along with the Red Book resource guide and the Red Book online source and supply directory (
COMMENTS (1)
Vernon
Report AbuseAnti-dumping, what a pathetic attempt by our government to level a playing field that they have made seriously unlevel. They did not gain an unfair advantage, our government gave them that unfair advantage by imposing onerous regulations on American Manufacturers but not on products being shipped into the USA. So now they impose again on the free enterprise market and deny the American consumer a deal on low cost flooring because China misscalculated the market potential and had to dump this merchandise below cost. This is an example of the American Woman the song was leaving !$ And as you can see by Wood-Mode what happens to those who stay!$%# And so goes American Manufacturering !