US keeps China's furniture makers in the hot seat
BEIJING - The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) decided to maintain anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made wooden bedroom furniture for another five years, which could shift Chinese enterprises' focus from the US to their home market, industry experts said.
Chinese and US distributors of wooden bedroom furniture for the US market are subject to an anti-dumping tariff of from 43.23 to 216.01 percent, according to the USITC.
"The anti-dumping tax on furniture made in China increasingly suppresses the profit margins of Chinese exporters," said Luo Yamei, an analyst at Industrial Securities. "Many Chinese export-oriented enterprises in the industry have transferred their target market from the US to China due to the shrinking profits."
Zhao Shoutian, vice-president of the Beijing Furniture Association, said Chinese manufacturers may rush to develop the domestic market because the US market is no longer so promising owing to the unstable orders and high tax rates.
According to Zhao, Chinese companies have little yield to share with their US distributors, who will definitely pressure them for more as they face the high tax rate.
"Compared with distributors in the US, manufacturers in China always get less profit in the export, as the pricing power belongs to their US partners," said Zhao. He added that most US distributors of Chinese-made furniture oppose the US government's decision.
US trade protection against Chinese wooden bedroom furniture dates to 2006, when a tax rate of up to 210 percent was imposed on Chinese products.
China Daily
(China Daily 12/03/2010 page13)
