128 Chinese companies won't face reviews for '08
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, September 7, 2009
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce has agreed not to perform an administrative review of antidumping rates for the 2008 shipments from 128 Chinese bedroom furniture manufacturers.
According to the DOC, the parties that had sought a review of those companies withdrew that request earlier this year.
The antidumping case dates back to a 2004 investigation by U.S. trade officials, sparked by a group of U.S. manufacturers who alleged they were injured by Chinese wood bedroom furniture imports sold at below-market prices.
Every year since then, each Chinese manufacturer has received an initial duty rate that is paid by importers of record. But that initial rate is subject to an annual review or audit by the government, and can be adjusted higher or lower, meaning the importers would have to pay more or would recaeive refunds.
By being taken off the review list, many of the 128 companies have locked in at duty rates of 7.24% or lower for wood bedroom furniture shipped in 2008.
The 2008 review initially targeted some 200 Chinese wood bedroom manufacturers.
Another 30 companies on the list have been assessed at the all-China rate of 216%. The Department of Commerce has delayed issuing payment instructions for these companies until the completion of the 2008 review. Preliminary results of that review are due in early October and the final results are due in February. However, both periods can be extended should the DOC need more time.
The DOC also is suspending the payment of duties on shipments made after Jan. 1, 2008, by Dorbest Ltd. (Rui Feng Woodwork and Rui Feng Lumber Development) until a pending lawsuit is resolved.
To read the lists of the companies on Furniture/Today's Web site, go to /article/339389-128_Chinese_companies_won_t_face_reviews_for_2008.php.
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