Washington, DC, June 19--The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties ranging to nearly 200 percent on $1.2 billion of wooden bedroom furniture imported from China, but said most Chinese companies would escape the highest duties.
The duties could lead to higher prices on wooden dressers, headboards and other staples of the American bedroom.
A coalition of U.S. furniture makers and labor unions had asked for duties ranging up to 441 percent to offset alleged unfair pricing by their Chinese rivals.
However, Commerce Department's preliminary decision found a much lower level of "dumping" on the bulk of China's wooden bedroom furniture exports to the United States.
James Jochum, assistant secretary of commerce for import administration, told reporters that seven companies that account for roughly 40 percent of all wooden bedroom furniture shipments from China to the United States would face duties ranging from 4.90 to 24.34 percent.
Eighty-two companies which showed that their exporting was not controlled by the Chinese government were hit with a duty of 10.92 percent. Those companies also account for about 40 percent of shipments to the United States, he said.
Remaining Chinese furniture producers and exporters face a new duty of 198.08 percent. Those could number in the thousands, but accounted for only about 20 percent of shipments to the United States last year, Jochum said.
Lynn Chipperfield, vice president of Furniture Brands International Inc., the largest U.S. home furnishing manufacturer, said the company would have preferred if there had been no tariff, but Commerce Department's ruling would not have any impact on its business.
"I don't think this can be called anything but a failure of the petition. With tariffs at this rate you have to wonder why they even bothered," Chipperfield said.
U.S. imports of Chinese wooden bedroom furniture surged to nearly $1.2 billion last year from $359 million in 2000. By some analysts' estimates, China produces at least 40 percent of all furniture sold in the United States.
With American consumers favoring the low-priced, relatively high-quality Chinese goods, some U.S. furniture makers have taken a hit. Woodworking factories lost 35,000 jobs, or nearly one-third of the industry, since 2000, according to government labor statistics. American furniture makers have had to slash prices to compete with their Asian counterparts.
The anti-dumping issue has split the furniture industry, pitting some manufacturers in favor of duties against import-heavy retailers.
A coalition of more than 30 furniture manufacturers and retailers who import from China, including Furniture Brands International, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Crate & Barrel, strongly protested the campaign to impose anti-dumping duties.
