DHA eNews - Commerce Finds China Is Circumventing Plywood Duties
The U.S. Department of Commerce made an affirmative determination that China is circumventing antidumping and countervailing duty plywood orders by using face or back veneers of radiata or agathis pine with a TSCA VI label and made with interior resin systems. Commerce notified the U.S. International Trade Commission to include these products in its antidumping and countervailing duty order. Also, U.S. Customs has been directed to require cash deposits of estimated duties retroactive to September 18, 2018.
The court remanded the log and veneer cost determinations for Linyi Chengen Co. used to determine dumping margins for further examination and explanation. The Department of Commerce must file a response by August 2. Related briefs and responses are due in October.
Following the recent agreement between Canada and the U.S. on the aluminum and steel dispute, Canada announced that they will eliminate the countermeasures that were originally implemented in July 2018. These measures included a 10% tariff on two categories of U.S.-made plywood.
The Wood-Mode cabinet plant in Pennsylvania closed its doors in May. Chinese cabinet imports negatively impacted the business, suggests Bill Esler, editor for Woodworking Network. The closure had a devastating effect: 938 people lost their jobs. The 77‑year‑old company was the largest employer in Snyder County.
U.S. imports of hardwood plywood from Vietnam and Indonesia soared as imports from China fell by 50,000 to 100,000 cubic meters per month. Wood products exports from Vietnam reached $3.12 billion in the first four months of the year. Exports to the U.S. surged 34.6% to $1.42 billion.
There are 867 direct foreign investment companies operating in Vietnam. 63% are funded by investors in China, South Korea, or Japan.
The Hardwood Federation reports that despite their requests - and the requests made by hundreds of hardwood businesses - the hardwood lumber industry was not included in the federal aid package for industries negatively impacted by the ongoing trade war with China.
Armstrong Industries spun off its wood flooring business to AHF Products in a $100 million deal in December 2018. AHF Products, which makes solid and engineered hardwood flooring, will establish its headquarters in West Hempfield Township, PA in August 2020. The company has annual sales of $390 million and employs 1,780 people at six manufacturing plants and a distribution center.
Columbia Forest Products will modernize and streamline its Hearst, Ontario hardwood plywood mill with help from a $3.2 million investment from the Ontario government. The five-year investment is expected to create or retain 350 jobs in Hearst and in Rutherglen, where Columbia operates a hardwood veneer plant.
There are two points that interior designers emphasize about renovating or building a new kitchen: it's a hub of activity, so practical design is key, and a good kitchen design significantly contributes to resale value. Designers note that buyers consider cabinetry the most important feature of a kitchen.
A recent report states that several European companies either finance or buy from groups that are responsible for agro-industrial expansion into tropical forests. The EU will delay the release of its Communication on Deforestation as more than 600 European scientists have asked the EU to act to reduce consumption related to the deforestation of the Amazon.
A series of seiMongabayures of massive amounts of rare tree species - the most recent: merbau - have called into question the effectiveness of Indonesia's mechanisms to fight illegal logging. Experts believe that illegal logging cost the country nearly $12 billion between 2004 and 2010.
Sudden oak death, caused by an invasive water mold, has killed more than one million trees in coastal California. The pathogen cannot be eradicated as it is too widely established. Every year, U.S. forests are faced with an average of 2.5 new invasive insects.
Experts predict that 12 more sawmills in British Columbia will close in the next decade, as the forestry industry faces shrinking timber harvests due to the destruction caused by mountain pine beetles, spruce beetles, and devastating forest fires.
"Native Americans knew that to regenerate plant species that they wanted for food, and to feed game animals they relied on, they needed to burn the forest understory regularly," states Marc Abrams, a professor of forest ecology. Burning undergrowth resulted in the predominance of fire‑adapted tree species such as oak, hickory, and pine.