Vietnam Plywood After the US AD/CVD Determinations: What Buyers Can Still Source

What exactly did Commerce and the ITC decide?

The case moved through five steps.

The final antidumping rate came in far below the preliminary rate. It is still prohibitive.

Petitioners' counsel describes the combined margins as 138% to 255%, which adds the full dumping margin rather than the adjusted cash deposit rate. Your broker will apply the cash deposit rate in force on the date of entry.

After an affirmative ITC vote, Commerce issues the antidumping and countervailing duty orders. I could not confirm the publication date of the orders at the time of verification. Check the Federal Register under case numbers A-552-851 and C-552-852 before you rely on any rate in this article.

The other two countries face their own rates. China's antidumping cash deposit is 185.96% with a countervailing rate of 88.96%. Indonesia's antidumping deposits run from 15.39% to 84.94% and its countervailing rates from 4.22% to 128.66%.

What does the scope cover, and what does it leave out?

The scope language decides everything. Read it in full in the Federal Register notice. The summary below is a starting point for a conversation with your customs broker, not a substitute for it.

Covered. Hardwood and decorative plywood and certain veneered panels. A panel is in scope when its face or back veneer is hardwood, softwood, or bamboo, regardless of surface coverings. Panels remain in scope when they are trimmed, cut to size, notched, punched, drilled, or have undergone other minor processing. Plywood further processed in a third country stays in scope unless that processing takes it outside the scope description.

Excluded. Commerce's scope lists several exclusions, including structural plywood meeting US standards, certain furniture, kitchen cabinets, multilayered wood flooring, and plywood already covered by the existing orders on China. The ITC separately found imports of softwood structural plywood negligible and terminated the investigations for those products.

Two points catch buyers out.

First, "cut to size" stays in scope. Drawer sides, cabinet backs, or shelving blanks shipped as plywood parts are not automatically furniture. Whether a kit of parts qualifies for a furniture exclusion depends on the precise wording and on how the goods are packaged and entered.

Second, the HTS number does not settle the question. Most subject merchandise enters under heading 4412, but the petition also referenced heading 9403. Scope is defined by the physical description. If you are unsure, your counsel can request a scope ruling from Commerce.

What does this do to landed cost?

Antidumping and countervailing duties sit on top of everything else.

Take a hypothetical entry of in-scope plywood with an entered value of $20,000, from an exporter at the standard rates.

The Section 301 line reflects the 12.5% additional duty that has applied to most Vietnamese goods since July 24, 2026. Goods subject to antidumping or countervailing duties are not exempt from it. Confirm how it applies to your HTS line.

Three features of the US system matter more than the headline rate.

The importer of record pays. A Vietnamese supplier offering delivered duty paid terms does not change who is liable to US Customs and Border Protection. If the supplier's nominated importer disappears, enforcement turns to whoever is on the entry.

Deposits are estimates. The US system is retrospective. The final liability is set later in administrative reviews and can be higher than the deposit you paid. Budget for that exposure over several years.

Evasion is investigated. Routing Vietnamese panels through a third country, or describing in-scope plywood as something else, exposes the importer to an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, interim measures, and penalties.

Wasn't Vietnamese plywood already under scrutiny?

Yes. This case is the second chapter.

The United States has applied antidumping and countervailing duties to Chinese hardwood plywood since 2018. Imports from Vietnam rose sharply afterwards. In 2020, Commerce opened a circumvention inquiry. In July 2023, it found that plywood completed in Vietnam from Chinese components, including face veneers, back veneers, and core veneers, was circumventing the China orders. Exporters using non-Chinese inputs could certify that fact. Those that could not were treated as subject to the China rates.

The 2025 petition went further and targeted Vietnamese production itself. For buyers, that changes the question. Under the circumvention finding, the question was "where do the veneers come from?" Under the new determinations, Vietnamese origin no longer helps for in-scope panels.

What can a buyer still source from Vietnam?

The determinations close one product family. They do not close the Vietnamese wood sector.

Finished wooden furniture. Vietnam remains the largest supplier of wooden furniture to the United States. Fully finished furniture is generally a different product from plywood. Check two things: whether your item falls under a Section 232 action on wood products, where upholstered wooden furniture and kitchen cabinets and vanities currently carry a 25% duty scheduled to rise on January 1, 2027, and whether any plywood shipped alongside as loose parts could be treated as in-scope merchandise.

Panels outside the scope. Structural softwood plywood meeting the relevant US standards was excluded. Other panel types, such as particleboard and medium-density fiberboard, are different products with their own rules, including formaldehyde limits under TSCA Title VI. A change of panel type is an engineering decision. Test it before you commit.

Solid wood and other materials. Rubberwood and acacia components, rattan, and bamboo products are outside this case. Lacey Act declaration requirements still apply to many wood products.

What I would not do is move the same panel to a neighboring country with Vietnamese or Chinese veneers and call it a new origin. Indonesia is under its own orders. Elsewhere, origin has to be earned through real production, and it will be examined.

What should you ask your supplier this month?

Send these questions to every Vietnamese supplier whose products contain plywood.

1. 1Which parts of my product are plywood, and what are the face, back, and core species?
2. 2Are those parts shipped assembled into the finished product, or loose?
3. 3Is your company, or your panel supplier, named in the Commerce determinations?
4. 4Where do you buy your panels or veneers, and can you document the country of harvest?
5. 5Who will be the importer of record, and under which HTS subheading will the goods be entered?
6. 6Can you provide a bill of materials and production records for my order?

Then take the answers to your customs broker or trade counsel. Ask for a written view on scope for each product family. For borderline items, consider a scope ruling before you place volume orders.

Buyer checklist: scope text read in full; product families sorted into in scope, out of scope, and unclear; importer of record confirmed; cash deposit rates verified on the entry date; Section 301 and Section 232 treatment confirmed; panel origin documented; contract terms updated to allocate duty risk.

The information in this article was verified on October 11, 2026. It is not legal advice. Rates, scope rulings, and court challenges can change the picture quickly. Confirm the current position before each shipment.