AMA Issues Response to DoC Preliminary Determination

October 30, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

The DoC announced preliminary dumping margins of 252.74 percent for Cambodia, 2.61 percent for Indonesia, 42.92 percent for Malaysia, 13.65 percent for Serbia, as high as 763.28 percent for Thailand, 20.03 percent for Turkey, and as high as 989.9 percent for Vietnam. On August 31, 2020 the DoC set the preliminary countervailing rate against imports of mattresses from China at 97.78 percent.

Steve Douglas, president of the American Mattress Alliance (AMA) board and vice president of operations at Maven, stated the disappointment felt by members of the AMA. “We were surprised by the very high percentages in some countries, but through every stage in this process, we will continue to assert this petition is overly broad and built on false claims. This is just another attempt by these large corporations to take more power and more market share, when they can’t even reliably supply their retail partners, and to make up for their failure to invest in innovative products at the expense of the American consumer.”

A recurring theme in industry publications throughout the pandemic has been the many obstacles brick-and-mortar retailers have faced in keeping their stores stocked through the initial drop and then strong surge of sales. Manufacturers have spoken about longer lead times, labor issues and shortages of components—four of the petitioners are component manufacturers. As the pandemic has continued, these issues have gotten worse, with a disrupted supply chain, capacity issues and price increases in the bedding industry.

However, increases in imports, even to supply an industry that desperately needs product, are still undesirable to the petitioners. AMA Chairperson of the Board Scott Burger, who is also CEO of Classic Brands, said, “While the actions sought by the petitioners stand to bring about significant harm to the mattress industry and the American consumer, our members remain unwavering in their commitment to support their brick-and-mortar partners with quality product during this trying time.”

He noted, “Against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, now is the time to leverage established global relationships and supply chains to acquire critical supplies at a rate otherwise unattainable using domestic sources alone. Unfortunately, these proposed tariffs would only further exacerbate the price volatility, unpredictable capacity and component shortages currently facing our industry.”

Keith Reynolds, vice chair of the board and president of Zinus U.S. said, “We need to all work together to not only help our industry survive 2020, but also to thrive in 2020. We can’t do that if the petitioners refuse to let us compete,” Reynolds said of the duties. “We had hoped the petitioners would withdraw the petition since domestic manufacturers are struggling with shortages, but it seems they are putting their own desires for market control ahead of retailers’ needs.”