Trade war overweight Vietnam! Imported hardwood plywood from China will face tariffs of up to 200%!

Home Furnishings today learned that in mid-August, the U.S. Department of Commerce believed that some Vietnamese exporters were trying to evade anti-dumping duties (for Chinese exporters).

"The Ministry of Commerce has preliminarily determined that certain hardwood plywood products and veneers exported from Vietnam were assembled in Vietnam using hardwood plywood from China, and belonged to Chinese products, which should be subject to anti-dumping duties (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD). )," the Commerce Department wrote in the Federal Register.

The original source of the ruling, The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood, which requested an investigation by the Commerce Department in 2020, called the ruling “a victory.” The alliance includes many members from the Decorative Hardwoods Assn. DHA.

"Members have recently won important victories in unfair import trade cases from Vietnam, which have soared in recent years," said Coalition President Keith A. Christman. "Public data show that this It was found that the plywood covered and subject to duty could account for 60% of all hardwood plywood imports from Vietnam.”

On January 4, 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an import order on imports of hardwood plywood from China, following the U.S. Department of Commerce’s affirmative findings on dumping and subsidies, and the U.S. International Trade Commission’s unanimous determination that the domestic industry was hampered by unfair trading practices. Released after China imported products, which suffered significant damage.

Two years later, the Hardwood Plywood Fairtrade Alliance urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to take a closer look at Vietnam's import trade, claiming that hardwood plywood imported from the country uses veneer from China. On June 17, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced an investigation.

On April 15, 2022, the Commerce Department extended the deadline for a final ruling on the investigation to October 17, 2022.

Commodity range and anti-circumvention inquiry

Specifically, the ruling covers:

Front and back veneers and assembled core components made in China;

Fully assembled veneer core platforms made in China and front and back veneers produced in Vietnam or a third country;

Multi-layer plywood core panels manufactured in China and combined in Vietnam with a veneer core platform and combined with veneers produced in China, Vietnam or a third country;

Front/back veneer and single-core veneer produced in China;

A single core board manufactured in China and processed in Vietnam into a veneer core platform and combined with front/back veneer produced in Vietnam or a third country.

liquidation suspension

According to the regulations, the U.S. Department of Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend the liquidation of hardwood plywood from Vietnam for any of the three production scenarios initially identified as the target commodity, and request that the liquidation be suspended on June 17, 2020 Cash deposits (at the applicable tax rate) are frozen on the day.

If the company taking these inquiries has its own company specific rate in the order, the cash deposit rate will be the company specific rate. Otherwise, Commerce will direct CBP to require anti-dumping duty cash deposits equal to 183.36% China-wide and countervailing duty cash deposits equal to 22.98% for all other rates.

In addition to the above five production scenarios, hardwood plywood assembled in Vietnam is not affected by these investigations. Therefore, such items do not require a cash deposit, but are subject to certification requirements.

The 36 non-cooperative exporters listed below are not eligible for this certification program

Companies not cooperating with this investigation

1. An An Plywood Joint Stock Company

2. Arrow Forest International Co., Ltd

3. BAC Son Woods Processing Joint Stock Company

4. BHL Thai Nguyen Corp.

5. Eagle Industries Company Limited

6. Golden Bridge Industries Pte. Ltd.

7. Govina Investment Joint Stock Company

8. Greater River Wood Co. Ltd.

9. Greatwood Hung Yen Joint Stock Company

10. Groll Ply and Cabinetry

11. Hai Hien Bamboo Wood Joint Stock Company

12. Her Hui Wood (Vietnam) Co., Ltd.

13. Hoang LAM Plywood Joint Stock Co.

14. Huong Son Wood Group Co., Ltd.

15. Innovgreen Thanh Hoa Co. Ltd.

16. Lechenwood Viet Nam Company Limited

17. Long LUU Plywood Production Co., Ltd.

18. Long Phat Construction Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company

19. Plywood Sunshine Ltd. Co.

20. Quang Phat Woods JSC

21. TEKCOM Corporation

22. Win Faith Trading

Companies that did not respond to this survey

1. Bao Yen MDF Joint Stock Company

2. BHL Vietnam Investment and Development

3. Dong Tam Production Trading Company Limited

4. Greatwood Company Limited

5. Linwood Vietnam Co. Ltd

6. Quoc Thai Forestry Import Export Limited Company

7. Rongjia Woods Vietnam Company Limited

8. Sumec Huongson Wood Group Co. Ltd.

9. Tan Tien Co. Ltd

10. Thang Long Wood Panel Company Ltd.

11. Thanh Hoa Stone Export Company

12. Truong Son North Construction JSC

13.Vietind Co. Ltd.

14. Vietnam Golden Timber Company Limited