U.S. finds Vietnamese hangers subsidized

   The U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously determined that imports of steel wire garment hangers from Vietnam are subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.
   As a result of the ITC’s affirmative determination, the U.S. Commerce Department will move forward to issue antidumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of this product from Vietnam. However, ITC said the orders will not apply to goods that entered the United States from Vietnam prior to the dates of Commerce’s affirmative preliminary determinations.
   Steel wire garment hangers are principally used by the dry cleaning, industrial laundry and uniform rental industries for draping clothes and textiles.
   The petitioners of this investigation included M&B Metal Products Co., Leeds, Ala.; Innovative Fabrication/Indy Hanger, Indianapolis; and US Hanger Co., Gardena, Calif. Overall, the ITC said the U.S. industry consists of six hanger producers with plants in Alabama, California, Indiana, Nebraska, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Leading sources of U.S. hanger imports in 2011 were Vietnam, Mexico and China.