Furniture makers collect $7.4 million from import duties

Disbursement down sharply from past two years

Heath E Combs -- Furniture Today, December 13, 2010

HIGH POINT — The U.S. government has disbursed to a group of current and former U.S. furniture manufacturers about $7.4 million in import duties collected on Chinese-made wood bedroom furniture, a much smaller amount than in the past two years.

Only duties collected on shipments made through Sept. 30, 2007, are distributed to the U.S. companies under a law known as the Byrd Amendment, which was repealed in 2006.

The total disbursement was about $27.5 million in 2009 and $35.8 million in 2008. The monies are distributed through the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, and the Department of Customs and Border Protection reports the figures on its website.

The recipients are companies that supported the government's initial 2004 investigation into the sale of Chinese-made bedrooms.

The latest report said another $15.4 million was being held for fiscal year 2010 pending the outcome of litigation. Non-petitioners seeking to receive these funds include Ashley Furniture, Ethan Allen, Kimball and Standard Furniture.

According to the report, companies receiving payments this year were:

Bassett Furniture: $488,020
Bebe Furniture: $20,434
Carolina Furniture Works: $209,433
Century Furniture: $164,968
Harden Furniture: $38,825
Higdon Furniture: $175,875
Johnston Tombigbee Furniture: $363,531
Kincaid: $553,220
Stickley: $246,081
Lea Inds.: $349,909
MJ Wood Products: $66,427
Mobel Inc.: $160,573
Oakwood Interiors: $153,068
Perdues: $193,832
Sandberg Furniture: $388,784
Stanley Furniture: $2.2 million
Copeland Furniture: $73,619
Gat Creek: $36,285
Vaughan-Bassett Furniture: $1.4 million
Vermont Tubbs: $118,044