Antidumping issues aired at market
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, May 3, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT— Arguments for and against the antidumping petition gained force at the April market — the last big industry gathering before an expected June ruling that could lead to duties on Chinese bedroom imports.
Pressing the issue here was the Furniture Retailers of America, a group of primarily large stores, which blasted the U.S. manufacturers petitioning for the duties, first in trade paper advertisements and then in an opening-day meeting to raise awareness — and cash — for their cause.
At the meeting, attorney John Greenwald told a packed house of 250 to 300 retailers and importers at Noble's restaurant that the petition "is a fraud," and if the investigation is "played straight," it will show there is no dumping and won't lead to duties.
But "in order to increase the chances that it will be played straight, you must organize," said Greenwald, who represents a group of Chinese manufacturers.
One by one, Furniture Retailers of America leaders told why they believe the petition is wrong, why it won't restore U.S. jobs, how the costs to retailers could be substantial, and where they could send money to fight back.
Their trade ads posed pointed questions, such as: Why are the petitioners seeking duties when they helped set up the Chinese factories in the first place? And are the petitioners in it for the money that could flow back to them from the China duties, under a trade law provision called the Byrd Amendment?
The FRA represents some 45 to 60 companies, said Mike Veitenheimer, vice president and general counsel for The Bombay Company and a leader of the group. Other members include Rooms To Go, R.C. Willey, Havertys, Rhodes and JCPenney.
Veitenheimer said he expects more will join.
He estimated the FRA has raised close to $500,000 and said "we'll probably need that much more" to continue the fight.
Havertys Chairman Clancy Ridley said that some manufacturers and a number of transoceanic shippers want to join the group, and said more retailers have signed up since the Noble's meeting.
Bill Silverman, an attorney representing the retail group, said at the market meeting the petitioners, a group of about 30 U.S. makers of wood bedroom furniture, "are making war on retailers."
He said that if the petitioners succeed, the U.S. government could impose preliminary duties by June 17, although further reviews and changes will follow.
"Your liability for duties, which could begin as early as June, will not be clarified for three years," he said.
FRA leaders encouraged those at the meeting to do some politicking of their own, writing letters to U.S. representatives, senators and the Department of Commerce with the "play-it-straight" message. The FRA plans to advertise in high-profile newspapers such as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
While the retailer group said the Byrd Amendment could wind up putting millions of dollars in collected duties into the petitioners' pockets, the petitioners have long said that's not their motivation, and say the amendment is likely to be eliminated soon.
Responding to the retailers' trade ads, Doug Bassett, vice president of sales for case goods producer Vaughan-Bassett and a spokesman for the petitioning Committee for Legal Trade, said the Byrd Amendment claim was the "most distorted" charge by the FRA.
Bassett said the World Trade Organization has ruled the provision illegal and said it would likely be eliminated before U.S. manufacturers saw a dime from it. (For more on Bassett's response to the FRA's ads, see www.furnituretoday.com/response.shtml).
FRA representatives disagreed, saying Byrd is not as dead as the petitioners let on.
"Seventy-three senators have said to the president, 'Don't touch it'," Silverman said.
Lynn Chipperfield, senior vice president of manufacturer Furniture Brands International, said at the meeting that he'd like to believe the petitioners aren't in it for so-called Byrd money. But he challenged them to pledge "every dime" to retraining programs for employees who have lost their jobs.
The audience at the market meeting was largely friendly to the FRA's agenda, applauding some of the deepest digs, including a comment by City Furniture's Keith Koenig, who said the petitioners are by and large "not the cutting edge, best and brightest in the industry."
Kids Today Editor Jane Kitchen contributed to this story.
