Dibs on Duties

March 8, 2012  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in sourcing/importing on March 9, 2012

Three U.S. furniture companies expect to receive a total of $65 million in duties collected under the antidumping case against Chinese wood bedroom furniture manufacturers.

That's according to Securities & Exchange Commission filings this week by Stanley Furniture Co.(http://www.stanleyfurniture.com), Bassett Furniture Inds.(http://www.bassettfurniture.com) and La-Z-Boy(http://www.la-z-boy.com)

Manufacturers who did not support the antidumping petition that lead to a U.S. Department of Commerce investigation of Chinese manufacturers had filed actions in the United States Court of International Trade seeking to share in the distribution of duties. As a result those actions, U.S. Customs held back a portion of those distributions pending resolution of the non-supporting producers' claims. The Court of International Trade dismissed all of the actions, and the non-supporting producers appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Customs advised that it expected to distribute the holdback to the Supporting Producers after Thursday.

On March 5, the Federal Circuit denied the motions for injunction, "without prejudicing the ultimate disposition of these cases."

Stanley expects to receive around $40 million in distributions; La-Z-Boy, $16 million; and Bassett, $9 million.

If the Federal Circuit were to reverse the decisions of the Court of International Trade and to determine that the Non-Supporting Producers are entitled to CDSOA distributions, it is possible that Customs may seek to have the supporting producers return all or a portion of our company's share of the Holdback.