Plywood group files unfair trade petition

The Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood, an association of U.S. manufacturers of hardwood and decorative plywood, announced the filing of an unfair trade petition regarding imports of the product from China.

The petition, filed with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission, asserts that imports of the product are sold in the United States at dumped prices and are subsidized by the government of China, according to the association.

The petition also asserts that U.S. manufacturers of hardwood and decorative plywood have suffered material competitive injury as a result of these unfair trade practices and that the industry continues to be threatened by further injury by reason of the Chinese imports. The petition requests that the U.S. government investigate these unfair trade practices and their harmful impact on this domestic manufacturing industry and to apply antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of hardwood plywood from China in order to restore competitive parity in the U.S. market.

“China has dumped products into the U.S. market at prices that are well below fair value,” association counsel Jeff Levin said in a statement. “Furthermore, Chinese manufacturers receive an array of government subsidies, including their access to raw materials — logs and timber — that come from suspect or illicit sources. All of these factors equate to an enormous unfair advantage for Chinese manufacturers and injure the entire domestic hardwood flooring industry.”