RESTON, Va. — The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association released a statement applauding what it calls positive steps to "stop unfairly traded Chinese cabinet and components parts being moved through Malaysia and Vietnam, circumventing the anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets, vanities and components thereof (“WCV”) from China."

According to the KCMA, the Commerce Department on April 4 proposed plans to create a certification process that it says will disrupt the flow of finished and unfinished Chinese cabinet components parts being completed in Malaysia and Vietnam before being sent to the U.S. market. 

As part of the proposed process, both importers and exporters will be required to certify that each shipment of cabinets from Malaysia and Vietnam does not contain finished and/or unfinished Chinese cabinet components, including the doors, drawer faces, and frames.

“Today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce is a great step forward as we work to ensure that all cabinets and components flowing through Malaysia and Vietnam are manufactured there, not in the People’s Republic of China,” said KCMA CEO Betsy Natz.

“On behalf of KCMA member companies, let me commend the U.S. Department of Commerce for their continued efforts to enforce these orders and create a chain of custody to stop the cheating,” said Natz.

The department has provided interested parties an opportunity to submit comments on the proposed certification process on April 19, 2024, and to submit rebuttal comments on April 26, 2024. Commerce intends to issue its final scope ruling on June 14, 2024.

Natz said that in April 2020, in response to petitions filed by KCMA to combat unfairly traded imports from China, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets, vanities and components thereof (“WCV”) from China. 

The KCMA said that the relief provided by these orders to the domestic industry was being eroded by WCV that were made in China and then transshipped through Malaysia and Vietnam to the United States. In April 2022, the KCMA requested that the Commerce Department conduct scope inquiries and anti-circumvention proceedings to address this problem and protect tens of thousands of American cabinet jobs.

The KCMA's statement said that, "As we move forward, the KCMA will continue our work to fight for fair trade and ensure that domestic cabinet manufacturers are competing on level playing field."