A number of US wood flooring manufacturers have decided to combine their efforts in a move to have Chinese imports sanctioned. This is the flooring manufacturers’ response to what they insist are distinctly unfair and biased trading practices.
CAHP or the Coalition of the American Hardwood Parity is less than 6 months old but they are already priming for battle and pushing their weight with government officials. The organization has filed a formal complaint with ITC. The allegations in the complaint state that the hardwood flooring being imported from the Chinese market is creating an imbalance in the marketplace.
CAHP also alleges that the Chinese flooring products are sold for prices that are far below the normal rates. As a result the titans of US hardwood flooring manufacturing further state that they are suffering financially and will continue to suffer in the future unless remedies are put in place and appropriate sanctions against these China based imports are enforced. The complaint even includes statistics showing that the Chinese imports of hardwood flooring products have nearly doubled in just one year.
It will be up to the Department of Commerce to make a final decision about whether or not the below market prices of Chinese imports are detrimental to the financial health of US hardwood flooring manufacturing companies. At the last committee meeting there was to be a vote that would determine if additional fees would be imposed on the imported flooring products. Some estimates report that a new trade duty of 200-240% could be approved.
The executives of Anderson, Shaw and other leading hardwood flooring producers in the US are adamant that this action is necessary in order to insure the fiscal health of the flooring industry. They insist that Chinese imports could damage the US flooring market beyond the point of survivability if actions are not taken now to level the playing field.
Dumping the cheaper wood flooring products in the US marketplace is one of the major charges that has been alleged by the US flooring companies. This means that they hope to prove that the low prices and high amounts of wood products was intentionally performed. If a practice of dumping can be established there will be numerous fines and penalties as well as heavy duty fees that are all going to be imposed.
It will be a showdown between the Coalition of Asia Pacific Flooring Manufacturers for Free and Fair Trade and the Coalition of the American Hardwood Parity, and the final result pertaining to wood flooring imports is still in doubt.
