Govt. review could affect costs<\/p>\n
HIGH POINT\u00c2\u00a0— Case goods importers are keeping an eye on a U.S. Department of Commerce review of antidumping duties, which could affect the cost of wood bedroom furniture from China.
\n<\/p>\n
Importers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t planning an exodus from China anytime soon, but are keeping their options open in case duties are raised on their source plants.
\n<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t made any plans to shift anything,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Coaster Merchandise Manager Toby Konetzny. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We always have our options \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in case we do need to move, we can do it swiftly. We are paying close attention to the matter. … It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a guessing game and you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to guess wrong.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Broyhill Furniture President and CEO Harvey Dondero agreed it was too early to make a decision on changes to its sourcing strategy.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the result is,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, adding that antidumping duties \u00e2\u20ac\u0153may go down. We have to know more than what we know today.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But Dondero said the company is poised to switch its sourcing should \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the result of the review be a negative for the consumer.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For example, Broyhill has vendor relationships in Vietnam and Malaysia, he said.<\/p>\n
By next January, the Department of Commerce is expected to complete its review of the antidumping duties. Duty amounts could be raised, lowered or left the same on individual Chinese companies.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153raised\u00e2\u20ac\u009d possibility that has importers looking at their sourcing. Some have already made changes, partly because of the unknowns associated with the review.<\/p>\n
Heirloom Traditions by Global Furniture, an importer of solid-wood bedroom, was sourcing about 70% of its product in northern China last spring and the rest in Indonesia. By fall, it had moved everything to Indonesia.
\nThe shift was triggered by a combination of rising wages and labor shortages in China, as well as the uncertainties with the DOC review, said company President and CEO Jack DeBonis.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At the end of the day, it was just getting too expensive and too uncertain,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For us, it just makes sense not to expose ourselves. The margins are slimmer and slimmer, and we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the wherewithal to have a sinking fund for some type of government decision.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Primo Designs President David Ballard said he recently moved one bedroom group from China to Vietnam. He is giving the factory a try largely because it was aggressive in seeking the business and because he believes the workers in Vietnam will do a good job with the heavily carved group.<\/p>\n
But he said the move also was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a little bit of an insurance policy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d given the uncertainties of the administrative review.<\/p>\n
Others plan to wait things out before making any decisions.<\/p>\n
David Beckmann, president of importer Emerald Home Furnishings, said he would move product if necessary, but thinks it is unfair to penalize a factory in the beginning of the review process. He said he has faith his source plants will weather the audit just fine.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Most of the factories we do business with are profitable and are in the business of selling furniture,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the process runs correctly, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect the duties will go up (on these plants).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Mark Stubstad, a managing partner in Riversedge Furniture, said his company had shifted product to Vietnam in response to the initial antidumping investigation. Today, roughly half of his bedroom line is from Vietnam and the rest from China.<\/p>\n
His goal moving forward is to continue supporting the factories in China, including helping them with legal fees and advice to make sure they are abiding by U.S. rules.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are comfortable with them being investigated, and we are comfortable with where the tariffs would fall,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0Bill Kemp, president of Kemp Enterprises, also expressed confidence that his Chinese manufacturing partners would come through the review process unscathed.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are committed to those plants, and I believe those plants we are working with understand the issues they must handle if they get reviewed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Govt. review could affect costs HIGH POINT\u00c2\u00a0— Case goods importers are keeping an eye on a U.S. Department of Commerce review of antidumping duties, which could affect the cost of wood bedroom furniture from China. Importers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t planning an exodus from China anytime soon, but are keeping their options open in case duties are raised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}