The U.S. International Trade Commission will decide whether to permanently impose duties on hardwood and decorative plywood coming from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Scheduled for July 16, the public hearing is the final phase of the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into imports from the three countries, and comes after U.S. Customs and Border Protection began collecting (retrospective) duties on plywood from March 2nd.
Wood Central understands that the hearing marks the culmination of a case that has moved quickly since the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood filed petitions in May 2025. The investigation is itself a sequel — in 2018, AD and CVD orders were imposed on Chinese hardwood plywood, prompting Chinese producers to shift into softwood decorative plywood and route shipments through Vietnam and Indonesia to circumvent the existing orders. That pattern is now being tested in the final phase.
“This decision by the Department of Commerce is another critical step in levelling the playing field for American hardwood and decorative plywood manufacturers,” according to Timothy C. Brightbill, lead counsel to the Coalition and co-chair of Wiley’s International Trade Practice. “The domestic industry has been harmed for decades by dumped and subsidised hardwood and decorative plywood.”
Retrospective duties apply to articles imported since December 2nd.
Preliminary antidumping duties already in effect stand at 187.27 per cent for China and 196.14 per cent for Vietnam, with Indonesian producers facing rates of 19.98 to 84.94 per cent. Countervailing duties — targeting government subsidies — add a further 81.34 per cent for China, 4.37 to 26.75 per cent for Vietnam, and a band of 2.40 to 128.66 per cent for Indonesia.
The investigations cover hardwood and decorative plywood and similar veneered panels consisting of multiple bonded layers, regardless of size, thickness or minor processing such as cutting or drilling. Should the ITC find material injury to U.S. producers at the July hearing, the Commerce Department will issue permanent duty orders — converting cash deposits already collected into binding trade barriers with no sunset absent a formal review.
- To learn more about the flood of plywood from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam entering the US supply chain, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
