Commerce advances dumping case for Chinese bedroom furniture

Commerce advances dumping case for Chinese bedroom furniture    The U.S. Commerce Department advanced its dumping case against Chinese bedroom furniture by issuing a preliminary determination June 18.
   The department calculated that the dumping margin for these imports ranges from less than 5 percent to 198 percent. Imposition of antidumping duties requires final affirmative determinations from Commerce that dumping occurred and from the U.S. International Trade Commission that these imports hurt American producers.
   Dumping is the import of goods at a price below the domestic market or a third-country price or below the cost of production. A dumping margin represents how much the fair-value price exceeds the dumped price.
   Commerce plans to issue its final determination for the Chinese bedroom furniture imports by November. The ITC is expected to release its results by December. Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection will collect cash deposits or bonds on any subject imports equal to the preliminary dumping margins. The money will be returned if a negative determination is reached, Commerce said.
   The preliminary dumping margins include:
   * Dongguan Lung Dong Furniture Co. Ltd. and Dongguan Dong He Furniture Co. Ltd. — 7.04 percent.
   * Rui Feng Woodwork Co. Ltd., Rui Feng Lumber Development Co. Ltd., and Dorbest Ltd. — 19.24 percent.
   * Lacquer Craft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. — 4.9 percent.
   * Markor International Furniture (Tianjin) Manufacture Co. Ltd. — 8.38 percent.
   * Shing Mark Enterprise Co. Ltd., Carven Industries Ltd., and Dongguan Yongpeng Furniture Co. Ltd. — 6.59 percent.
   * Starcorp Furniture (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Orin Furniture (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Shanghai Starcorp Furniture Co. Ltd. — 24.34 percent.
   * Tech Lane Wood Mfg. and Kee Jia Wood Mfg — 9.36 percent.
   * Section A respondents — 10.92 percent.
   * China-wide — 198.08 percent.
   According to Commerce, U.S. imports of bedroom furniture from China reached $1.2 billion in 2003, up from $817.3 million in 2002.