Commerce Department Issues Strong Preliminary Results in Trade Case on Multilayered Wood Flooring from China

December 19, 2018

Washington, DC — In a victory for U.S. producers of multilayered wood flooring (MLWF), the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued preliminary results in its 2016-2017 administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on MLWF from China. The American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring (AMMWF), a domestic coalition of MLWF producers, commends the agency for its strong preliminary results.

DOC has preliminarily determined that imports of MLWF from China were unfairly dumped in the United States at significant and heightened rates. DOC found that the Chinese producers individually examined in this review dumped MLWF in the United States at rates as high as 96.51%. Similarly, for Chinese producers not individually examined in this review, but eligible for a separate rate, DOC increased the AD rate to 48.62%. These increased margins are critical as these companies were all previously subject to an AD rate of 0.00%. DOC has also increased the China-wide entity rate from 25.62% to 96.51%. In short, the 120 Chinese producers and exporters subject to DOC’s individual, separate, and China-wide rates in this case now face the prospect of considerably higher AD rates on imports of wood flooring.

“This is a very positive result for the domestic multilayered wood flooring industry, as it recognizes the high levels of dumping that have been occurring and helps ensure that the domestic industry competes on an even playing field with foreign producers,” said Tim Brightbill of Wiley Rein, counsel to the American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring. “We appreciate the Commerce Department’s hard work in calculating these strong preliminary results. We believe these high margins more accurately reflect the level of dumping of multilayered wood flooring products from China. We urge the agency to find similar rates in its final results.”

DOC is expected to issue its final results in this review in April 2019. While high preliminary margins indicate the level of dumping likely to be found in DOC’s final results, the rate at which the entries subject to the review will be liquidated and the cash deposits moving forward will not finalized until DOC makes its final determination.

The Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Wiley Rein LLP represents AMMWF on trade matters.