The European Commission launched an antidumping investigation into hardwood plywood imported into the EU from China. The investigation was initiated at the request of the nine European plywood producers. It is claimed that China’s exports of hardwood plywood are unfairly priced and use of Russian timber banned by the EU and this trade threatens the financial viability of many European companies and jobs.

The product under investigation is currently classified under the HS codes ex 4412 31, ex 4412 33 and ex 4412 34 (CN and TARIC codes 4412 31 10 80, 4412 31 90 00, 4412 33 10 12, 4412 33 10 22, 4412 33 10 82, 4412 33 20 10, 4412 33 30 10, 4412 33 90 10, and 4412 34 00 10). Several other countries, including the United States, Morocco, Turkey and South Korea have already taken action to protect their own industries from similar unfair trade practices.

EU will adopt new rules for the first time to register all imports of Chinese plywood and if it decides to impose tariffs in the future, there will be a retrospective period to prevent companies from hoarding goods to evade tariffs.

According to Eurostat data, the EU imported about 750,000 cubic metres of hardwood plywood from China in 2023 worth €327 million, accounting for more than half of imports and 30% of the total EU market.