Duties Remain Uncollected for Domestic Furniture Producers

May 12, 2015  by in Industry, Legal   

North Carolina furniture manufacturers are owed more than $150 million in uncollected duties from importers of cheap wooden bedroom furniture from China.

The money has gone uncollected for years by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., along with colleagues in other states, have recently tried to pressure the Obama administration to do something about the lost revenue. The senators have asked the agency to explain how it’s going to collect the money owed U.S. manufacturers.

The answer, so far, is that it could take years.

Stanley Furniture Company, a High Point, N.C.-based manufacturer, is owed more than $71 million and Hickory, N.C.-based Century Furniture is due more than $5.3 million in uncollected duties assessed against overseas furniture manufacturers who “dump” products into the U.S. market at artificially low prices, based on estimates of past payouts of collected duties.

Read Entire Story Source: McClatchy DC