187% Duty Slapped on Chinese Plywood
The US Commerce Department imposed a 187% duty on Chinese plywood imports, dramatically impacting material costs for woodworkers and DIY builders. This move will likely push prices higher and encourage more domestic sourcing of plywood. Both hobbyists and professional woodworkers should expect significant supply chain shifts and potentially explore alternative materials.
This new 187% anti-dumping duty comes on top of a preliminary 81.34% countervailing duty announced in January 2026, bringing the combined preliminary tariffs on Chinese hardwood plywood to approximately 267%. The Commerce Department imposed the high anti-dumping rate after selected Chinese manufacturers did not respond to its inquiries, leading to a decision based on "facts otherwise available with adverse inferences". The petition for these duties was filed in May 2025 by the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood, which includes U.S. manufacturers like Columbia Forest Products and Timber Products Company. The coalition alleged that Chinese companies were selling plywood in the U.S. at unfairly low prices, a practice known as dumping, and that they were receiving unfair government subsidies. The petition cited alleged dumping margins as high as 474%. This action is the latest in a long-running trade dispute. The U.S. has had anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese hardwood plywood in place since 2017. Those previous duties led to a massive decline in direct imports from China, which plummeted from 2 million cubic meters in 2016 to just 52,800 in 2025. In response to the earlier tariffs, evidence suggests Chinese producers began routing plywood through other countries. Consequently, the Commerce Department is also targeting these circumvention routes, imposing preliminary anti-dumping duties as high as 196.14% on Vietnam and up to 84.94% on Indonesia, which have become the dominant plywood suppliers to the U.S. U.S. imports of hardwood plywood from Vietnam and Indonesia surged in recent years, together accounting for nearly 60% of the 3.23 million cubic meters imported in 2025. Vietnam's shipments to the U.S. rose by 33% to 980,000 cubic meters, and Indonesia's increased by 40% to 891,000 cubic meters in 2025. A final determination on the anti-dumping duties for China is expected by mid-May 2026. The duties are also being applied retroactively 90 days from the announcement in early March 2026, a measure taken when there's a finding of "critical circumstances".
