AAHP critical of new duties on Chinese hardwood plywood
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WASHINGTON – The American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood expressed disappointment in the April 18 announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce about imposing preliminary countervailing duties of 9.89 percent on Chinese exporters of hardwood plywood.

Commerce separately applied a penalty margin of 111.09 percent to one Chinese company that did not fully cooperate with the investigation as well as companies that did not return the quantity and value questionnaire, possibly because they do not export plywood.

“The federal government has tied one arm behind the backs of the U.S. cabinetmakers and other manufacturing industries by denying them a level playing field in raw material sourcing with their offshore competitors,” said AAHP chairman Greg Simon in a statement.

“This case is presented as cracking down on Chinese trade ‘cheating’ and protecting American jobs but it will benefit nobody in the United States. The cabinet industry, flooring, recreational vehicle and furniture industries use the Chinese plywood for different purposes than the U.S. plywood. The petitioners’ dreams that they will enjoy sales increases are a fantasy, even with these high duties.  The government should not be in the business of trying to pick winners and losers.  In fact, in these trade cases, nobody wins.”

In 2012-13 DOC also announced combined antidumping and countervailing duties of nearly 150 percent, but ITC threw the case out after a full investigation.  That ruling was later affirmed by a federal judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Separately, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association informed its members about the duty determination. KCMA noted that DOC often revises these rates by issuing a post-preliminary determination analyzing subsidies alleged by the petitioner after the initiation of the case.
 
KCMA suggested to members that importers of hardwood plywood will need to begin posting deposits with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection upon publication of DOC’s determination in the Federal Register, which they expect to occur early the week of April 24.

The AAHP is an alliance of small medium and large American importers, distributors, manufacturers, retailers of hardwood plywood and the U.S. Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, collectively representing more than 100,000 American jobs.  See https://aahp-org.com/.

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Karl Forth

Karl D. Forth is online editor for CCI Media. He also writes news and feature stories in FDMC Magazine, in addition to newsletters and custom publishing projects. He is also involved in event organization, and compiles the annual FDM 300 list of industry leaders. He can be reached at [email protected].