The latest news is that in order to protect the domestic furniture manufacturing industry, Vietnam has launched a furniture trade war against China and will impose temporary anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made furniture products in the middle of this month.
On September 30, 2022, local time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam issued Decision No. 1991 (1991/Q-BCT) to take temporary anti-dumping measures against some furniture (table and chair products) originating in Malaysia and China. Taxes range from 21.4% to 35.2%.
The announcement document shows that the latest tariffs will take effect on the 15th from the date of issuance of the decision, and will be officially implemented on October 15th, while the temporary anti-dumping duties will be applicable for 120 days from the date of entry into force, that is, for a period of 4 months.
It is reported that on September 1, 2021, Vietnam launched an anti-dumping duty investigation on table and chair products imported from China and Malaysia.
Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said that after investigating some table and chair products originating in China and Malaysia, it found that although there was dumping, the dumping rate of products originating in Malaysia was less than 3%. According to Vietnam's "Foreign Trade Management Law" Article 78, paragraph 3, decides to exempt from anti-dumping duties on furniture products originating in Malaysia.
However, the survey pointed out that the number of table and chair products imported from China was significantly higher than the domestic production and sales volume in Vietnam, which had a serious impact on the Vietnamese furniture manufacturing industry.
Therefore, the Vietnamese authorities decided to impose a 21.4% tariff on chairs imported from China, and a 35.2% tariff on table products. The HS codes involved are 9403.30.00, 9403.60.90, 9403.90.90, 9401.30, 9401.40.00, 9401.61.00 , 9401.69.90, 9401.71.00, 9401.79.90, 9401.80.00, 9401.90.40, 9401.90.92, and 9401.90.99.
However, it is worth noting that chair/table products that meet one of the following conditions are not covered by the provisional anti-dumping duties:
1. Entirely made of plastic material;
2. All or at least one main part (chair: seat surface, bottom cover, backrest, footrest, chair frame; table: table legs, table top, table frame) is made of rattan, wicker, bamboo or similar material;
3. Chair: The minimum height of the seat from the ground to the top of the seat surface is less than or equal to 420mm; the maximum height of the seat from the ground to the top of the seat surface is greater than or equal to 600mm.
Table: The length is less than 990mm or more than 3210mm; the width is less than 590mm or more than 1410mm; the height from the ground to the top of the desktop is not within the range of 675mm to 770mm.
At present, China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and a source of key materials and equipment for Vietnam's manufacturing industry. In the first nine months of this year, the bilateral trade volume between China and Vietnam was US$131.7 billion, of which Vietnam imported US$91.6 billion worth of products from China.