Heavy News

According to the latest news from the US Stone Network, the US domestic industry applied for anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on Chinese quartz counter-tops. The official application was submitted to the US Department of Commerce on April 17, and 301 Chinese stone producers were involved. Enter the list of anti-dumping companies!

Background

On April 17, 2018, the US Department of Commerce received an application for its domestic industry and decided to apply for anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on Chinese quartz counter-tops. The investigation involved more than one customs commodity code. The period is the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, and the countervailing investigation period is the full year of 2017.

It is reported that 301 manufacturers in China have been included in the application list. The main products involved are artificial stone panels made of quartz sand and other materials plus resin. They can be used in kitchen and bathroom counter-tops, bathtubs or partial replacement of wall tiles...

There are many HS code involved, as shown in the following figure (please note that the tax number is for reference only, and whether it belongs to the product in question depends on the product description in the application):

The original description of the product involved:

The impact of anti-dumping on the stone industry

The United States is still the largest exporter of Chinese stone. In 2017, the total value of exported stone in the United States reached US$1.3 billion, equivalent to one-fifth (20%) of China's exported stone, of which synthetic synthetic stone exports were 330,000 tons and US$709 million. It is equivalent to 54% of the US imported stone from China. Quartz stone belongs to artificial stone. The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation of the US quartz stone veneer (faceted) panel export means that our domestic quartz stone production enterprises may face a huge export crisis.

First of all, anti-dumping and countervailing will definitely affect the export volume of artificial stone and weaken the competitiveness of products. Once Chinese quartz stone products enter the anti-dumping procedure in the United States and are made affirmative ruling, the United States restricts the entry of quartz stone countertop (adhesive) board products through anti-dumping, which inevitably increases the production of its domestic quartz stone, resulting in the export of quartz stone from the United States. The market has shrunk dramatically. At the same time, high anti-dumping tariffs will increase the price of products, which will seriously weaken the competitiveness of domestic stone production and export enterprises (especially those with artificial stone production as their main business). Anti-dumping also has a certain chain effect. The anti-dumping and anti-subsidy of the United States may lead to similar measures taken by other countries, thus further cracking down on the domestic stone market.

Second, it is not conducive to the normal development of the domestic stone industry structure. Due to the reduction of the export market for American stone, some of the export products of stone enterprises have only turned back to the domestic market, and the domestic products have robbed the market. This will inevitably lead to imbalance in supply and demand in the market, and prices will fall, resulting in a serious backlog of products. Overcapacity, a large number of factories were forced to stop production, which seriously affected the normal development of the domestic stone industry structure.

Finally, it will seriously damage the market image of stone enterprise products. On the one hand, anti-dumping will gradually lose the original business customers of some domestic foreign trade enterprises, thereby reducing or losing the overseas market share, and then re-entering the lost market is very difficult; on the other hand, some enterprises may avoid the excessive cost caused by anti-dumping duties. The shoddy, resulting in low-cost and inferior quality of China's stone export market, brought a series of vicious competition events.

Countermeasure Analysis

In the face of the naked anti-dumping measures of the United States, how should the over 300 companies involved face it? Shilian Technology appealed to the entire stone industry to be eagerly awaited. Maybe one day, another marble anti-dumping anti-subsidy? As a company involved in the case, in the face of sudden anti-dumping complaints, only actively responding to the lawsuit, seriously responding to anti-dumping work, perseverance, stubborn defense, and argumentation are the only way out.

First of all, only by actively responding can we keep the market. No lawsuit is equal to no war, and it is necessary to change the psychology of fear of international lawsuits. If only a small number of enterprises respond to the lawsuit, the proportion of exports is small, and the other party can also determine that the representation is insufficient and refuse to provide information. Enterprises involved in the case should negotiate to form an overall advantage, and actively cooperate with sampling procedures such as sampling, questionnaires, inspections, evidence collection, and verification, and strive to provide strong information and evidence from the actual export conditions of the company's own industry, output value, and output;Second, rationalize the relationship between producers and exporters. Since the exporter is separated from the manufacturer, once an anti-dumping case arises, it must be closely coordinated, and the mind should go to one place and make it to the same place to share the responsibility for responding. No party can shirk its responsibility.

Finally, we must be good at doing the contact and communication work of foreign agents, related industrial organizations and cooperative customers, establish a good cooperative relationship, and let the relevant partners and agents of the US do their best to mediate and lobby, and give support and understanding.

US "double-reverse" investigation procedure

The entire investigation procedure for anti-dumping and countervailing cases can be divided into five stages, each of which ends with a decision by the Ministry of Commerce or the committee: (1) the Ministry of Commerce initiates an investigation; (2) the preliminary investigation stage of the committee; (3) business The preliminary investigation stage; (4) the final investigation stage of the Ministry of Commerce; (5) the final investigation stage of the committee.

The statutory deadlines for these five phases are as follows: Within 20 days after the submission of the complaint, the Commission initially decided that within 45 days after the submission of the complaint, the Ministry of Commerce initially decided that the anti-dumping case should be within 115 days after the initial decision of the Commission. Within 40 days after the initial decision, the Ministry of Commerce finally decided that within 75 days after the preliminary decision of the Ministry of Commerce, the committee finally decided to choose the later one on the 120th after the preliminary decision of the Ministry of Commerce or 45 days after the final decision of the Ministry of Commerce. (The picture below shows the “double reverse” case investigation process of a coated paper)

Remark:The countervailing investigation procedure is similar to the anti-dumping investigation procedure and differs only slightly on certain statutory deadlines.

China-US Trading Conflict

It is worth mentioning that in the early morning of March 23, the "China-US trade war" officially started. The United States decided to impose 25% and 10% tariffs on Chinese imports of steel and aluminum products from March 23; April 4 The US government issued a list of tariffed goods, which will impose a 25% tariff on China’s 1,333 US$50 billion goods; on April 17, the US applied for anti-dumping on Chinese quartz countertops. Countervailing investigations, whether the two have a relationship, I believe that you have your own opinion.

Attachment: List of Chinese producers listed in the application