US probe conclusion deadline on Vietnamese plywood imports extended

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has once again announced the extension of the deadline for issuing its final conclusion on an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tax evasion investigation into hardwood plywood imported from Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Specifically, the DOC will issue the conclusion on January 31, 2023.

According to the DOC’s preliminary conclusions announced on July 25, plywood from Vietnam using materials from China should be subject to the same anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties applied to China. If the materials are produced in Vietnam or other countries, the products will be exempt from any duties.

Currently, the US is applying an anti-dumping duty of 183.36% and an anti-subsidy tax of 22.98% to 194.9% on the product from China.

Vietnamese exporters and US importers have been allowed to participate in the self-certification mechanism to be excluded from the evasion measure.

However, the self-certification mechanism is not applied to enterprises that fail to provide information or provide incomplete or inaccurate information as requested by the DOC during the investigation.

Statistics show businesses eligible for the self-certification mechanism made up about 80% of Vietnam’s export value during the investigation period.

Particularly for shipments imported from June 17, 2020 to August 28, 2022 (30 days from the date of announcement of preliminary conclusions), DOC extended the time to complete declarations and supporting documents until December 1, 2022, instead of September 12, 2022 as in the preliminary conclusions.

US customs said Vietnam’s hardwood plywood exports to the US increased from 112.3 million USD in 2018 to 226.4 million USD in 2019, 248.5 million USD in 2020 and 356.7 million USD last year. The export turnover expanded by 57.6% in 2021 as compared to the year before the initiation of the investigation./.

VNA