Commerce Finds Edge-Glued Boards in AD/CVD Scope for Wood Mouldings From China
The Commerce Department found that edge-glued boards imported by Hardware Resources, Inc., were within the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wood mouldings and millwork products (wood mouldings) from China, according to an Aug. 2 scope ruling.
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The orders stated that subject merchandise includes items “made of wood” that are “continuously shaped wood or finger-jointed or edge-glued moulding or millwork blanks (whether or not resawn)," and that the merchandise "can be continuously shaped along any of its edges, ends, or faces.”
Commerce said that while the scope language didn't include a definition of “continuously shaped wood," clear definitions could be found in other sources. The merchandise descriptions contained in the petition and in the investigations of the orders at issue both supported the conclusion that Hardware Resources' goods were within scope, Commerce said.
Although Hardware Resources argued the items' UV coating was a critical distinguishing feature, the orders stated that covered products could be "imported raw, coated (e.g., gesso, polymer, or plastic), primed, painted, stained, wrapped" and more. Commerce found the UV coating didn't exclude the items and, instead, "squarely places them within the scope of the Orders."
The importer also pointed to the "score," a "1 mm mark" that acts “'as a guide' in further processing." Commerce said the term "score" was not mentioned in the orders to describe continuously shaped molding or millwork, but primary sources supported that scored boards were within scope and there was "no evidence that the score differs in any material way from a groove, which is a type of continuous shaping."
Commerce said the product descriptions were "dispositive" and that none of Hardware Resources' arguments gave the agency reason to consider any additional factors.