EU Slaps Anti-Dumping Levies on Plywood Imports From China

The European Commission said it was imposing provisional duties of up to 62.4 percent on hardwood plywood from China.
EU Slaps Anti-Dumping Levies on Plywood Imports From China
Sheets of plywood on a rack in a hardware store in a stock photo. Shutterstock
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The European Union imposed anti-dumping levies on imports of hardwood plywood from China on Tuesday.

The European Commission said it was imposing provisional duties of up to 62.4 percent on hardwood plywood after noticing a surge in dumping over the past three years, which has damaged producers from within the 27-member bloc.

A document produced by the commission on Tuesday said it was “imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of hardwood plywood from the People’s Republic of China.”

The levies will come into force on Wednesday, June 11.

The Greenwood Consortium of EU producers brought the original complaint in August 2024 against competitors from China.

In a statement published on June 10, the consortium said: “We welcome the commission’s decision to impose provisional anti-dumping duties but, to level the playing field genuinely, we call for definitive duties to be even higher than these provisional levels in the final decision later this year.”

“We also deeply appreciate the commission’s proactive approach to addressing circumvention attempts by Chinese exporters.”

The Greenwood Consortium represents producers of plywood in France, Spain, Italy, Finland, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, and the Czech Republic.

The European Commission said consumption of hardwood plywood had decreased by 30 percent in the period it examined, partly because of “the end of the post-COVID-19 economic rebound.”

“In this context, the quantity of hardwood plywood imported from China increased significantly in the period considered in both absolute and relative terms,” it added.

The commission said it was imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty of 25.1 percent on Pizhou Jiangshan Wood Co., Ltd, and 62.4 percent on all other imports from China.

The commission said the levies applied to “imports of plywood consisting solely of sheets of wood other than bamboo and okoumé, each ply not exceeding 6 mm thickness, with at least one outer ply of tropical wood or nonconiferous wood, of species specified under subheadings.”

It said the China National Forest Products Industry Association and several Chinese exporters had requested the commission to disclose its calculations and methodology, but it rejected this request for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

On May 18, the Chinese regime announced anti-dumping duties on a type of engineering plastic, known as POM copolymer, from the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Taiwan.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the plastic was causing substantial damage to the mainland Chinese POM copolymer industry, and it imposed a 34.5 percent levy on EU imports and 74.9 percent on U.S. imports.

Chris Summers
Chris Summers
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Chris Summers is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories, with a particular interest in crime, policing and the law.