Commerce Issues Preliminary Scope And Antidumping Determinations In Indonesian Plywood Investigation

The U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that lauan is in scope and set a preliminary antidumping duty rate of38.30%; this will stack on the preliminary countervailing duty of 43.18% set in January, for a total of 81.48%.

Preliminary Scope Determination

On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce released its preliminary scope memorandum in its investigations entitled Hardwood and Decorative Plywood from Indonesia, China, and Vietnam, recommending no revisions to the scope of the investigations and thus keeping lauan in the scope of the investigation.

While Commerce did respond to RV Industry Association members’ requests to exclude lauan, the response begins with “Commerce has previously stated that there is no requirement to exclude from the scope specific products simply because such products are not available from domestic producers. Commerce went on to write that due to the “substantial deference” it gives to the petitioner “during the investigation phase of an antidumping or countervailing duty proceeding,” they accepted the scope as proposed by the petitioner, the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood. The Coalition claimed in their rebuttal comments that they “can, and do, manufacture plywood with the dimensions identified” in the industry’s exclusion request. 

This is despite both the U.S. International Trade Commission and the domestic industry previously concluding that lauan plywood does not compete with domestically produced plywood during a 2017 antidumping and countervailing duty investigation on Hardwood Plywood from China. Several executives from domestic plywood manufacturers, including two who are members of the Petitioner coalition, testified unambiguously that lauan plywood from Indonesia does not compete with plywood made in the United States. 

• As this is the preliminary scope determination, there is still an opportunity for RV Industry Association members and other interested parties to continue to advocate for Commerce to exempt lauan from the scope of these overly-broad investigations. The RV Industry Association will continue to work with members on this effort.

Interested parties may also submit scope case briefs on the preliminary scope determination within 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register. Rebuttal scope briefs, limited to issues raised in the scope case briefs, may be submitted within five days after the deadline for the scope case briefs. 

Preliminary Antidumping Determination

On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce released an affirmative preliminary antidumping duty determination in its investigation entitled Hardwood and Decorative Plywood from Indonesia, setting the preliminary duty rate of 38.30%. As laid out above, the current scope of the investigation includes lauan plywood from Indonesia, specifically HTS lines 4412.31.45 and 4412.31.4850. 

The Commerce Department preliminarily determined that hardwood and decorative plywood from Indonesia is being, or likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value. The resulting antidumping duty rate for lauan providing companies is 38.30%, which will stack with January’s countervailing duty rate of 43.18%. This will apply upon publication in the Federal Register, and lauan-providing companies will have to pay this duty beginning at that time. 

The period of the investigation is April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025. 

If, at the final determination, lauan is removed from the scope or a negative injury determination is made, deposits will be refunded without interest. In that case, Commerce will send instructions to Customs and Border Protection, which would be sent to the ports directing refunds.

Additionally, Commerce has postponed its final determination to no later than 135 days after the date of publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal Register, which we expect to be the week of July 6, 2026. 

The RV Industry Association team continues to work to ensure fair treatment of lauan, which is neither available nor produced domestically. Please contact the Director of Federal Affairs, Samantha Rocci, at srocci@rvia.org with any questions.