Sarawak plywood exporters have strongly objected to a possible move by South Korean authorities to extend the three-year anti-dumping duties on the imports of Malaysian plywood into the country, after the duties ended in February this year.

The Korean Trade Commission (KTC) is currently carrying out a review on the duties imposed in March 2011 that ranged from 5.12% to 38.1% on different plywood suppliers.

The duties were imposed on panel products of at least 6mm in thickness, according to one of Sarawak’s key suppliers. Products below 6mm in thickness were not affected.

Eight major Sarawak plywood manufacturers and a ninth from Sabah were slapped with the duties as the Korean Wood Panel Association complained that Malaysian plywood suppliers were selling their products at unfairly low prices, thus hurting the local plywood makers.

According to a senior executive from one of the affected plywood suppliers, the South Korean authorities recently notified his company of the review and was asked to respond to a set of questionaires.

“We replied through our consultant end of last year and have raised the objection on any move to extend the anti-dumping duties in our submission.

“We are waiting for the outcome of the review,” he told StarBiz, adding that there was no indication on when the outcome would be made known.

From the review, he said the South Korean authorities could consider to either lower, maintain or increase the rates of the anti-dumping duties or not to extend them.

The affected Sarawak plywood companies are Shin Yang Plywood Sdn Bhd, Forescom Plywood Bhd, Menawan Wood Sdn Bhd, Shin Yang Plywood Bintulu Sdn Bhd and Zedtee Plywood Sdn Bhd (all slapped with duties of 9.75%), Jaya Tiasa Timber Products Sdn Bhd ( 6.43%), Subur Tiasa Plywood Sdn Bhd (5.12%) and Hwa Seng Veneer and Plywood Industry Sdn Bhd (6.43%).

The highest duties of 38.1% was imposed on Sabah-based Sinora Sdn Bhd while 8.76% was imposed on all other Malaysian suppliers.

The executive added that most Sarawak plywood exporters had significantly reduced their exports to South Korea following the imposition of the anti-dumping duties.

Source:Thestar online

Posted and edited by Hanbao News Department

Contact: import-export@hanbaogroup.com