Antidumping decision due by June 17
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, April 12, 2004
WASHINGTON — The deadline for a decision on preliminary duties against Chinese wood bedroom furniture has been delayed until June 17, a postponement from the original date of April 28.
The Committee for Legal Trade, which brought an antidumping petition targeting the Chinese product, requested the 50-day extension from the U.S. Department of Commerce last week. The DOC accepted the request.
"We wanted to give the Department of Commerce more time to evaluate the initial questionnaires from Chinese producers, and give us more time to evaluate and comment on those responses," said Joe Dorn, attorney for the Committee for Legal Trade, the group of U.S. companies and unions that filed the petition last fall.
While the decision could come anytime on or before June 17, the extension should have some companies breathing a sigh of relief at the April market, said industry analyst Jerry Epperson of Mann, Armistead & Epperson.
"Now we're looking at an administrative reprieve for product coming in from China for another month or month and a half," he said. "Importers get another 50 or 60 days to get their act together and get sourcing arranged in alternative locations."
