Chinese plywood importers have submitted their objections to the proposals, which stem from a complaint by the European Federation of the Plywood Industry (FEIC). All interested parties must make their responses by January 9.
FEIC argues that current duties (which stand at up to 66%) on Chinese okoumé-faced poplar plywood should be extended to other Chinese plywood products with different face veneers, such as bintangor, red canarium and kedondong.
Panda Panels Agencies Ltd said widening duties would be “unfair” and accused the European plywood industry of “sour grapes”. He said Chinese plywood was competing mainly with Brazilian and Far Eastern plywood, not European products.
“I am going to defend the Chinese industry to the nth degree,” said Panda’s managing director Chris Williams. “There’s no way the European manufacturing industry can supply the volumes that can be supplied by China.”
However, another plywood importer who declined to be named, said ridiculous volumes of Chinese plywood were swamping the market and destroying competiton.
“Chinese plywood has gone from nothing to over 50% of the market in the space of about two years,” he said. “It just can’t carry on, otherwise they’ll take the whole market.”
At the moment Chinese plywood is about 25-30% cheaper than Brazilian plywood and 30-40% less expensive than Indonesian/Malaysian products. Duties could bring price parity between the products.
The Timber Trade Federation has declared neutrality on the issue and will uphold any decision taken by the Commission.
