ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The U.S. Dept. of Commerce is continuing with its antidumping investigation of Chinese mattresses, and could make a preliminary determination on duties in February, an industry group says.

In an alert sent to its members, the International Sleep Products Assn. provided an update on the antidumping issue.

It noted that the U.S. International Trade Commission recently voted 3-0 to find that the U.S. bedding industry is experiencing material injury from Chinese mattress imports. That vote lets the DOC phase of the proceedings move forward, ISPA said.

“The next important milestone will be DOC’s preliminary determination, which is currently scheduled to occur by no later than Feb. 26, 2019 (although DOC may, and often does, postpone that deadline),” ISPA told its members. “The DOC preliminary determination is important because if the agency finds that dumping has occurred, it will set antidumping duties that Customs will collect on entries of the dumped imports. In some cases, these antidumping duties may be collected retroactively for up to 90 days before the date of the DOC’s preliminary determination.”

The antidumping investigation was requested in September, when several U.S. mattress manufacturers filed an antidumping duty petition alleging that mattresses imported from China were being sold in the United States at unfair prices and that those imports were materially injuring the U.S. mattress industry.

The U.S. Dept. of Commerce then initiated an antidumping investigation, which will be conducted by two government agencies. The DOC will determine whether the imported products are being sold in the United States at unfair prices. The U.S. International Trade Commission will determine whether the U.S. industry is being materially injured by the imports from China, ISPA said.

The recent ITC vote moves the process forward, ISPA reported.

（Source: FurnitureToday）