The U.S. International Trade Commission is initiating a five-year "sunset review" on uncovered innerspring units imported from China, South Africa and Vietnam.
This review coincides with the fifth anniversary of the imposition of duties on the subject merchandise. It aims to determine whether the removal of duties would lead to further injury to domestic producers of these items, which are a component used in mattresses.
The antidumping order for innerspring units from Vietnam and South Africa went into effect Dec. 11, 2008. The order for the Chinese-made units went into effect Feb. 19, 2009.
The original investigation resulted from a petition filed by domestic producer Leggett & Platt on Dec. 31, 2007, alleging material injury from unfairly priced imports of uncovered innerspring units from China, South Africa and Vietnam.
After the government determined the units were imported as less than fair market values and caused material injury to the domestic industry, the U.S. Department of Commerce applied duties ranging from 165% to 235% on Chinese-made uncovered innersprings and duties of 116% and 121% on Vietnamese and South African made units, respectively.
The duties are applied to factories but are paid by importers of record of the merchandise.
