Yonhap – SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s trade commission on Thursday made a preliminary decision to extend anti-dumping tariffs on plywood products from China and Malaysia for five years, as it has concluded that such goods can be dumped into the local market when the existing barriers are eliminated.
With the decision, the country will slap anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 3.98 percent to 27.21 percent on Chinese plywood products. Tariffs on Malaysian goods will range from 4.73 percent to 38.1 percent, according to the Korea Trade Commission.
South Korea has been imposing such tariffs on Chinese and Malaysia since 2013 and 2011, respectively.
This file photo shows the headquarters of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in the administrative city of Sejong, South Korea. (Yonhap)hide caption
The investigation came as the Korea Wood Panel Association, a trade association of South Korean plywood producers, filed a petition with the government that Chinese and Malaysian products can hurt their earnings and expand their market shares when they are dumped in the country.
The plywood is used in a wide array of areas in the construction industry. The local market for the product was estimated at 900 billion won (US$758 million) in 2018, according to the trade ministry data.
Malaysia accounted for around 9 percent, trailed by China with 6 percent. Early this year, South Korea also made a similar decision on Vietnamese plywood products, which took up 40 percent of the South Korean market.
The committee will notify the decision to the country’s finance ministry, which will make the final decision in November.
In a separate move, the committee also held a public hearing on whether to extend anti-dumping tariffs on Japanese, Indian and Spanish stainless steel bars. South Korea currently slaps tariffs of around 3.56 percent to 15.39 percent on the products.
The committee said it plans to make the final decision on whether to extend the policy in October.