U.S. Issues Antidumping Duties on Chinese Wood Flooring
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U.S. Issues Antidumping Duties on Chinese Wood FlooringWASHINGTON — 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.

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