On March 20, 2023, the United States announced the sixth extension of the time to issue final conclusions on the investigation of circumvention of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on plywood using hardwood materials imported from Vietnam.

The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty circumvention investigation on plywood from Vietnam was initiated by the DOC on June 17, 2020 based on the request of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

During the investigation period, the DOC has repeatedly delayed the deadline for issuing the final conclusion on the case, up to March 2023, there has been a total of 6 delays of the deadline for issuing the final conclusion on the investigation of circumvention of trade remedies against plywood using hardwood materials imported from Vietnam.

On July 25, 2022, the DOC announced the preliminary conclusion of the case, stating that plywood products imported from Vietnam into the United States, if the core is used as raw material imported from China, will be apply anti-dumping duty and anti-subsidy duty as applied to plywood imported from China.

According to that conclusion, if plywood products imported from Vietnam into the US have cores using peeled boards imported from China, they will be subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties as currently applied with plywood imported from China.

However, plywood from Vietnam with cores using peeled boards manufactured in Vietnam or in other countries will not be subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties.

The provisional duty rate may be up to 378.26%, applicable to shipments imported into the United States from June 17, 2020. However, the DOC allows Vietnamese businesses to cooperate in the process of confirming that it does not use Chinese materials in order to not be subject to measures.

On March 20, 2023, the United States announced the sixth extension of the time to issue final conclusions on the investigation of circumvention of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on plywood using hardwood imported from Vietnam.

Earlier, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) mistakenly announced the extension of the deadline for making a final decision for the issuance of a final conclusion in the anti-dumping duty circumvention investigation case for plywood using hardwood materials imported from Vietnam until Sunday, April 30, 2023.

However, the DOC has issued a regulatory notice that the deadline for issuing a verifiable final conclusion will be Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

However, it is currently impossible to say for certain that this will be the exact deadline for issuing the conclusion as this is the sixth time the DOC has extended the deadline.

The detailed notice can be downloaded here.

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