Forest Products: Trade Policy Highlights


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	FOREST PRODUCTS TRADE POLICY HIGHLIGHTS - DECEMBER 2004
	ITC Finds Material Injury in Chinese Wooden Bedroom Furniture Case
	On December 10, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) unanimously determined that U.S. industry was materially injured by imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China. In November, the Department of Commerce (DOC) found that seven Chinese companies, representing 35 percent of U.S. imports of wooden bedroom furniture by value, had exported product at less than fair value and assessed these companies with dumping margins ranging from 0.79 percent to 198.08 percent. For 115 other Chinese companies, representing about 65 percent of imports by value, DOC assessed a margin of 8.64 percent. A China-wide rate of 198.08 percent was assessed for remaining exporters. U.S. imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China increased from $169 million in 1999 to $1.1 billion in 2003.

	DOC Lowers Duties on Canadian Softwood Lumber
	On December 14, 2004, the Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the final results for its first administrative review of the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on Canadian softwood lumber. DOC found that between May 2002 and April 2003, Canadian provinces continued to subsidize softwood lumber producers, and Canadian exporters to sell their products in the United States at less than market value. However, the DOC lowered the CVD rate to 17.18 percent and the general AD rate to 4.03 percent. The new duties will not go into effect until all legal challenges to the CVD and AD orders are complete.

	Turkey Delays Implementation of ISPM 15
	On December 30, 2004, Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced that it will not require compliance with ISPM-15, “Guidelines for Regulating Wood Packaging Material in International Trade”, until January 1, 2006, one year after the originally announced implementation date. Like the EU, Turkey will require that wood packaging material be made from debarked wood as a precautionary measure in addition to being treated. The U.S. has requested that Turkey drop the debarking requirement.

	Canadian Softwood Lumber Threatening U.S. Industry
	On November 24, 2004, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a new affirmative determination of injury in the softwood lumber dispute with Canada. The decision came in response to a WTO ruling last April that ITC had failed to prove that imports from Canada were materially injuring or threatening injury to the U.S. softwood industry. In September, the ITC reversed its original injury determination to comply with a NAFTA panel ruling; however, that ruling has been appealed to an Extraordinary Challenge Committee of NAFTA.

	India Delays Import Requirements for Wood Packaging Material
	On November 19, 2004, India’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) advised that it would not detain or stop any imports containing wood packaging material for failing to comply with the provisions of the Third Amendment of the Plant Quarantine Order (Regulation of Import into India), 2004. The MOA further advised that this ruling would remain in effect with respect to all consignments shipped from the country of export until May 31, 2005. The announcement in effect provides a grace period for implementation of India’s new Plant Quarantine Order, which stated that, effective November 1, 2004, all imports of wood packaging materials into India must be marked as ISPM-15 compliant or be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with a treatment endorsement.

	WTO Authorizes Additional Duties on Forest and Fishery Products
	The WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), at its November 24 and 26 meeting, authorized the EC, Brazil, India, Japan, Korea, Canada and Mexico to suspend concessions and other obligations for the United States’ failure to repeal the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, the so-called “Byrd Amendment”. Under the Byrd Amendment, duties collected on products from foreign countries found in violation of U.S. trade law go into a fund for distribution to eligible domestic producers. The level of concessions that can be withheld by a country in a given year is equal to 72 percent of the total disbursements made under the CDSOA for the preceding year relating to anti-dumping and/or countervailing duties collected on imports from that country. To date, five out of the seven countries have submitted indicative lists of products that could be subject to retaliation. Three of the lists include forest and/or fishery products (Indicative List of Forest and Fishery Products That Could Be Subject To Retaliatory Tariffs). In the case of Canada, the list is quite extensive, so it would only be able to target a small proportion of the products on the list based upon the current level of disbursements.