No duties levied against Chinese hardwood plywood

Hardwood plywood from China does not injure the U.S. industry and will not be subjected to antidumping duties, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled Tuesday.

In a 5-0 vote, the commission went against a Sept. 17 final determination by the U.S. Department of Commerce that Chinese hardwood plywood sold in the United States is subsidized at less than fair value.

The commission ruled that the U.S. wood industry is neither materially injured nor threatened with material injury by reason of imports of hardwood plywood from China.

The decision was applauded by the American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood, comprised of more than a dozen importers, distributors and manufacturers of hardwood plywood.

“The ITC ruling brings an end to a year-long campaign to impose severe and unprecedented antidumping and countervailing duty rates on imported Chinese hardwood plywood that would have resulted in severe disruptions to the kitchen and bath cabinet industry, eliminated thousands of jobs and shifted labor to overseas competitors,” the alliance said in a statement.

The Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood, a group of domestic manufacturers that filed an unfair trade petition in September 2012, said it was deeply disappointed with the ruling.

“This industry, which has seen large portions of the U.S. market for hardwood plywood captured by unfairly traded imports to the pronounced detriment of this manufacturing industry, will face the continued threat posed by Chinese imports. We do not believe that the ITC’s determination is reflective of the facts presented in this investigation, or the realities of the marketplace,” coalition counsel Jeff Levin said in a statement.