Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. panel gave preliminary approval on Friday to import duties on more than $1 billion of wooden bedroom furniture from China in what Beijing has called the largest U.S. anti-dumping case yet against its goods. The U.S. International Trade Commission said there was a reasonable indication that low-priced imports from China were harming domestic furniture makers. A group of 27 U.S. companies want duties ranging from 158 percent to 441 percent to offset what they say is "dumping" by Chinese competitors. Beijing has warned that approval of the steep duties would have "negative effects on normal-U.S.-Sino...

TRINITY - A third Randolph County company has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce for the success of its international trade efforts. On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., presented Trinity Furniture with the Export Achievement Award. "This is a success story," Coble told the audience. "And success stories don't just happen." Coble added Trinity Furniture's success is especially noteworthy in the context of the past several years of "tight times" for the country in general and the furniture industry specifically. "This is for you all. Thank you," said Jorge Lagueruela, Trinity Furniture president, to the company's 50-plus...

China turns the tables By JOHN SCHMID and RICK ROMELL jschmid@journalsentinal Posted: Dec. 28, 2003 Second of a four-part series: Made in China Wisconsin wasn't yet a state when Joseph Richardson set up a lumber mill in Sheboygan Falls. Seven generations of family woodworkers since then have earned renown for their baronial furniture, fit for a shoreline mansion on Lake Michigan. Made in China Photo/Gary Porter On their last day of work earlier this month, Richardson Brothers Furniture Co. employees share tearful goodbyes. The workers had just voted on their severance package at a union meeting in Sheboygan Falls. Their...

Norma Purinton was surprised to learn that the pretty, pale-wood bedroom furniture she selected at a Fort Lauderdale City Furniture store was made in China. Destined for a guest room in her Pompano Beach home, the suite carried a modest price tag. Adding matching bookcases and cabinets, the furniture totaled $3,500. A good deal, Purinton thought. But she said she might balk if their price was higher. "I wouldn't want to pay more" for guest-bedroom furniture, she said. Yet if a group of U.S. furniture makers have their way, shoppers like Purinton could pay hundreds more for the same pieces....

Furniture retailers strike back against tariff supporters HIGH POINT -- The gloves are coming off in the furniture industry's internal battle over cheap Chinese products and the preservation of American manufacturing jobs. In the past week, two retail chains stopped buying goods from American furniture makers who are supporting a so-called "anti-dumping petition" that could impose steep tariffs on Chinese products, thus dramatically raising import costs. "This is just the opening volley," said Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst and director of the Mann Armistead & Epperson Ltd. investment banking firm in Richmond, Va. "It's getting nasty." American Furniture Warehouse...

China now warns of trade harm from US furniture probe BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) - China warned the United States on Friday that a new anti-dumping investigation into some imports of Chinese furniture could harm trade ties. The decision to look into possible dumping of Chinese wooden bedroom furniture came days after a meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, where the two leaders appeared to quell rising trade tensions. "This is the largest anti-dumping case China has faced, and will result in negative effects on normal Sino-U.S. trade," Commerce Ministry spokesman Chong Quan said...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. HOLLAND -- Baker Furniture Co., one of the last of West Michigan's high-end residential furniture makers, will close its Holland plant within nine months, a move that will cost 166 workers their jobs. On Tuesday, Baker told employees about the decision to leave Holland and move the jobs to other Baker plants in North Carolina. The decision to move production will have "absolutely no impact whatsoever," on Baker's headquarters in Grand Rapids, said Dan Bradley, president of Baker, Knapp &Tubbs. Baker maintains office and warehouse space on Monroe Avenue near Ann...

They won't buy American -- on principleBy Mick Normington The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area Dec. 8 — HIGH POINT -- The gloves are coming off in the furniture industry's internal battle over cheap Chinese products and the preservation of American manufacturing jobs. In the past week, two retail chains stopped buying goods from American furniture makers who are supporting a so-called "anti-dumping petition" that could impose steep tariffs on Chinese products, thus dramatically raising import costs. "This is just the opening volley," said Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst and director of the Mann Armistead & Epperson...

Dec. 8 — HIGH POINT -- The gloves are coming off in the furniture industry's internal battle over cheap Chinese products and the preservation of American manufacturing jobs. In the past week, two retail chains stopped buying goods from American furniture makers who are supporting a so-called "anti-dumping petition" that could impose steep tariffs on Chinese products, thus dramatically raising import costs. "This is just the opening volley," said Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst and director of the Mann Armistead & Epperson Ltd. investment banking firm in Richmond, Va. "It's getting nasty." American Furniture Warehouse Co. Inc., based in...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. THOMASVILLE, N.C. -- Thomasville Furniture Industries will cut 200 jobs in the next two to three months as it continues to suffer under competition from imports, the company says. The layoffs announced Monday will affect four of the company's wood-furniture plants and nine plants that support the wood manufacturing operations, said Rick Millen, director of human resources. One of the main wood plants is in Caldwell County; the rest are in the Thomasville area. "We are not closing a plant," Millen said. "And we have no plans to close another plant....

<p>JASPER, Ind. -- Chad Giesler's veins are filled with sawdust and tradition.</p> <p>Giesler is plant superintendent at Jasper Desk Co., which claims to be the oldest office furniture maker in the nation, in a community billing itself as the nation's center for wood office furniture.</p>

Political analysts say that jobs - their loss and their recovery - will be the big issue in North Carolina elections next year in the wake of major layoffs and job cuts at such employers as Pillowtex and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'There are three major issues in North Carolina today, and that is jobs, jobs and jobs,' said John Davis, the executive director of N.C. FREE, a business group in Raleigh that tracks state-election trends.A recent exchange of letters between Bill Cobey, a Republican candidate for governor, and aides to Democratic Gov. Mike Easley gives a taste of the rhetoric...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Furniture industry - Push to survive Bankruptcies. Plant closings. Hundreds of workers with nowhere to turn. It's all familiar to North Carolina's textile industry after nearly a decade of free trade, but now it's happening in furniture factories throughout the state. Stoneville Furniture of Rockingham County, known for casual dining furniture, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month for the third time in 15 years. Hooker Furniture of Martinsville, Va., this month closed a 270-worker plant in Kernersville, blaming the economy and cheap imports. Next month, Broyhill Furniture will let...

Bernie & Phyl's Furniture to Open Raynham Superstore on August 16 Bernie & Phyl's Furniture, one of the fastest growing furniture retailers in the country, will open its new 55,000 square foot superstore in Raynham, Massachusetts on August 16, 2003. The company purchased the former Ames department store on Route 44 in Raynham in June 2003 and has since transformed the building into a state-of-the-art superstore both inside and out. The company has done extensive renovations to the building including adding a new facade and paint to the exterior to give it a clean, contemporary look. Inside, the store has...

High home sales spur furniture buying By Karen-Janine Cohen Business Writer August 17, 2003 Greg and Eileen Lurie, of Albany, N.Y., may not have seen every sofa in South Florida. It just seemed like it. Down to furnish their Lake Worth home, they've sat on divans at Carls, tested loveseats at Baer's and eyed ottomans at Burdines. "I never thought I'd be tired of sitting on couches," said Greg, who with his wife also visited Inspiration by Scan Design and ABC Carpet & Home. And they know they have merely sampled the area's furniture selections. "There is no question, there...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Ronnie Simmons draped an American flag over a home entertainment center, the last piece of furniture to be made at Hooker's downtown Kernersville plant. Not even hugs and handshakes could console the burly worker on the last day of his 29-year career at the plant. 'It's all just hit me now, that this is it,' Simmons said Wednesday. For Simmons and 259 other Hooker Furniture Corp. employees, the piece symbolized a casket that recognized and honored the death of another U.S. manufacturing plant - a scene that...

Petition: China illegally dumping low-priced furniture into market GALAX - The factory whistle blew in this factory town, but furniture workers ignored the end-of-break signal. Instead, they lined up to sign a petition that could help save their jobs. And they had their employers' blessing. Amid headboard pieces stacked for assembly and the scent of sanded wood, Reva Lowe waited Tuesday morning for her chance to wield a pen against the threat of Chinese imports. Lowe said she has worked for Vaughan-Bassett Furniture for about 17 years. She said she supports the campaign by a coalition of domestic furniture manufacturers...

Furniture group says imports unfair The domestic furniture industry has met the enemy and the enemy is China. At least when the battle is over bedroom furniture. On Tuesday, a coalition of U.S. manufacturers of bedroom furniture said too many domestic furniture factories have closed and too many workers have been left jobless because of what's described as China's illegal "dumping" of unfairly priced bedroom furniture in the U.S. market. The group - American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade - announced plans to file a petition this fall that would seek investigations by the U.S. International Trade Commission and...

<p>A group of American makers of wood bedroom furniture is preparing to seek protection from the U.S. government to stem a surge of imports from China that the companies say has ravaged their industry.</p> <p>John Bassett, president and chief executive of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co., Galax, Va., and a spokesman for the group of 14 furniture makers, said the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade intends to file an antidumping petition this fall with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.STONEVILLE, N.C. - Weakened by the prolonged economic slump, Stoneville Furniture closed its manufacturing plant Friday and laid off 200 people. Robert Koenig, the president and co-owner of the Rockingham County company, told the News & Record of Greensboro that the plant was on "extended shutdown." The layoffs affect almost the entire workforce of the company. Koenig said he and six co-owners would search for ways to reopen the Stonesville factor, which makes dinette sets, parson chairs and bar stools. Robert Martin, 49, had worked for a year and a half at...