DHA eNews - U.S. Customs Cracks Down On Plywood Importers
Recent news and changes include:
- President signs extension of PPP
- Hardwood Federation seeks more pandemic relief
- Building materials distributors report business declines of 20 - 30%
- Flooring workers are a “hot spot” for COVID-19 cases
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Photo © Tia Dufour
U.S. Customs issued a notice of final determination that substantial evidence shows that U.S. importers InterGlobal Forest, American Pacific Plywood, and U.S. Global Forest brought Chinese hardwood plywood into the United States through evasion. The allegation is that these U.S. importers are shipping substantial volumes of Chinese hardwood plywood through Cambodia into the U.S. without lawfully paying antidumping and countervailing duties.
The U.S. Department of Commerce will not conduct an annual review of countervailing duties on hardwood plywood from China for 2019, as all parties have withdrawn their requests for the review.
AHF Products will close its engineered flooring plant in China and supply U.S. markets from its Sihanoukville, Cambodia plant instead. The Cambodian facility has tripled its capacity over the past 12 months and intends to double that capacity between now and the first quarter of 2021.
The Composite Panel Association has chosen Andy O'Hare as its new president, beginning August 3. Andy has 25 years of diverse association management experience, most recently serving as vice president of public policy at the Fertilizer Institute.
Thousands of designers, specifiers, architects, woodworkers, and more use DHA's Where To Buy membership directory to find hardwood plywood, engineered wood flooring, veneer, and the machinery and supplies needed to make beautiful hardwood products. There is no charge for the directory.
An environmental agency investigating illegal logging in Ukraine for more than 18 months discovered that illegally harvested wood has been used by IKEA in its furniture products. The illegal timber was certified as legal by the Forest Stewardship Council, the world's largest certifier of wood. IKEA is the largest buyer of wood and the largest retailer of wood furniture in the world.
After the report that wood from illegal timber was found in IKEA's supply chain, the Ukrainian government announced that it would take action to prevent illegal logging. Another report noted that illegal loggers in Ukraine are taking advantage of the chaos caused by flooding and the coronavirus.
Source: 365 News
Scientists found that the wood of 38 Brazilian species categorized as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered has been poorly tracked and, as a result, legally sold in Brazil and for export. Harvesting the 38 species is prohibited.
Indigenous groups and NGOs claim that Cambodia's new directive to end illegal logging is for appearances only, designed to change the country's reputation of being soft on forest crimes. U.S. and EU monitors report that a Cambodian national forest lost nearly two acres of woodlands for every hour in 2019.
So far this year, the Maine Forest Service has already reported more than 530 wildfires. This far exceeds the total for all of last year: 356.
Malaysia's log exports have declined by 60% since 1980 because of the lack of available harvestable timber. Experts attribute the decline to the overharvesting policies of previous political administrations who didn't take long-term consequences into account.
Yet another Chinese flooring company will make a significant investment in Georgia. Create Flooring Solutions (CFL) will sink $70 million into a new 252,000-square-foot plant, creating 300 jobs. CFL manufactures wood, laminate, and luxury vinyl flooring.
South America, Europe, and New Zealand are in fierce competition to supply China's growing need for logs. So far, most of the increase has been attributed to South America and Europe. European shipments have increased by more than 300% during the first quarter of 2020.
Latvia's Latvijas Finieris, a developer, producer, and supplier of birch plywood products, and Finland's Stora Enso, a manufacturer of forest products, have teamed up to develop a glue for plywood that uses lignin instead of phenol. The change to lignin, a complex organic polymer that makes plants rigid and woody, would significantly reduce the carbon footprint of plywood products from production through end-use.