OREANDA-NEWS. October 04, 2012. Hardwoods Distribution Inc. ("Hardwoods" or the "Company") announced that on September 27, 2012 an unfair trade petition was filed in the United States with respect to imported hardwood plywood from China, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.

The action was filed by the Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood (CFTHP), an association of U.S. manufacturers of hardwood and decorative plywood. The petition, filed with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleges that imports of Chinese manufactured hardwood plywood are sold in the United States at prices below cost, and are subsidized by the Government of China.

The petition claims that U.S. manufacturers of hardwood and decorative plywood have suffered material competitive injury and that the industry continues to be threatened by further injury from Chinese imports. The filing requests that the U.S. Government investigate, and seeks antidumping and countervailing duty in excess of 300 percent to be applied against the value of imported hardwood plywood originating from China. In announcing the filing, the CFTHP indicated it expects a preliminary ruling to be implemented by Spring 2013 and a final ruling by late Fall 2013.

Hardwoods sells hardwood plywood, lumber and related sheet goods and specialty wood products to customers in North America. Hardwoods strategy includes selling both imported and domestically produced hardwood plywood to satisfy demand from Hardwoods customers. The majority of the imported hardwood plywood which is sold by Hardwoods is sourced from China. If trade duties were levied against Chinese hardwood plywood, this would impact upon Hardwood's business in the United States.

These impacts may include material changes to the selling prices, margins, and/or product supply availability of both imported and domestically manufactured hardwood plywood. Hardwoods is analyzing the trade petition filing. However, the resulting impact on markets and therefore on Hardwoods business cannot be determined at this time. It is estimated that sales of hardwood plywood imported from China for resale to customers located in the United States currently comprises approximately 13.2% of Hardwoods total revenues.