Antidumping petition clears hurdle
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, December 14, 2003
Washington — The battle is far from over, but U.S. furniture makers seeking duties on wood bedroom furniture from China cleared an important obstacle last week when the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an antidumping investigation to determine if those goods are illegally priced.
In its ruling Thursday, Commerce determined the petition filed Oct. 31 by the Committee for Legal Trade showed sufficient evidence of dumping and consequent injury to warrant a full investigation.
It also said the petition has the required support. In order for a DOC investigation to begin, the petition required backing of U.S. manufacturers and workers accounting for more than half of the U.S. production reported by those companies that expressed a view on the petition
While Commerce's industry poll showed U.S. manufacturers representing 57% of domestic wood bedroom capacity in support, that's a conservative figure, said Victoria Park, communications director with the DOC's Office of Trade Development.
"The discretion to disregard any opposition votes from manufacturers who also import was not exercised in this case," she said.
Commerce didn't need to disregard such opposition, because the petition passed the 50% test even including the opposition of importers, said Joe Dorn, an attorney representing the Committee For Legal Trade. That group consists of 27 U.S. manufacturers and several labor unions
"Because supporters of our petition won a clear victory in the raw vote, the Commerce Department had no need to take the next step and rule on the eligibility of those companies opposing our petition," Dorn said.
The International Trade Commission is due to make a preliminary determination of injury to domestic manufacturers of wood bedroom furniture by mid-January. If the ITC does find injury caused by Chinese imports, the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce is scheduled to make a preliminary determination of whether Chinese manufacturers are dumping bedroom furniture by April 28.
If the investigation isn't extended, final determinations are due from Commerce on July 12 and the ITC on Aug. 26.
John Greenwald, an attorney representing Chinese manufacturers, and domestic suppliers and retailers opposing the petition, said the initiation of the investigation was no surprise, and that the standards of proof at the preliminary stage are much lower than later on.
"I am absolutely confident that when the Chinese are engaged and they explain to the Department of Commerce that they are using mostly Western woods and have a fraction of the labor cost (of U.S. producers), if the department plays it straight I'm sure they'll find no dumping," he said.
The Chinese government reacted quickly to news of the investigation into the country's wood bedroom exports. Ministry of Commerce spokesman Chong Quan said the Chinese are very concerned about accusations of dumping wood furniture in the U.S. market.
"This case has been the biggest antidumping case that China has ever met and will affect trade between China and the U.S.," he said, according to press reports.
The Chinese commerce ministry estimates that the antidumping petition affects trade worth $1 billion a year. Chong said the Chinese furniture industry consists mostly of private enterprises and joint ventures, and that it's unfair to use data collected from a third country to make a dumping claim against China. He also called upon the U.S. to grant market economy status to the Chinese furniture industry.
The DOC furniture investigation comes on the heels of a U.S. decision last month to place quotas on some Chinese-made apparel. A decision on another antidumping case against China involving televisions is due in April.
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