I refer to the plywood market report and would like to set the record straight in respect of the types of plywood covered under the current “Partial interim review of anti-dumping measures concerning imports of okoumé plywood originating in the People’s Republic of China”.
Admittedly the scope of the review is relatively ambiguous, but specifically refers to “Plywood consisting solely of sheets of wood, each ply not exceeding 6mm thickness with at least one outer ply of bintangor, red canarium, kedondong or certain other species, not coated by a permanent film of other materials”. The investigation inquires into whether these products should be included in the scope of the measures on the grounds that they share the same basic physical and chemical characteristics and end uses as the product covered by the existing measures (ie okoumé plywood).
Having asked the European Commission for clarification of the specific products under review, I now understand that products such as white tropical hardwood-faced poplar plywood, white-faced tropical hardwood throughout plywood, pine-faced poplar plywood, realwood veneered decorative plywood and phenolic film-faced plywood will not come under the review and as a consequence are not subject to the risk of anti-dumping duty.
With regard to the current rumours concerning the possibility that anti-dumping duty on Chinese plywood could be in place before the end of the summer, the European Commission has a very strict timetable which clearly sets out the sequence of events that must be followed before any final decision can be reached. Judging from the timetable it is highly unlikely that anti-dumping duty will be imposed before the end of the summer. However, the date on which any potential anti-dumping duty would commence is still very uncertain, but further information can be found on the official European Commission website: http://trade.ec.europa.eu.doclib/html/120962.htm
Our own company and number of our suppliers have co-operated with the Commission in the current review and in this respect we would be pleased to respond to any individual queries.
Christopher Williams
Panda Panel Agencies Ltd
