Against China-related Anti-circumvention, The Three American Bathroom Cabinet Giants Withdrew From KCMA

The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA) issued an announcement on October 4, local time, saying that the three major cabinet manufacturers in the United States, American Woodmark, MasterBrand Cabinets, and Cabinetworks Group, have imported Chinese wooden cabinets, bathroom cabinets and Its component products (Wooden Cabinets and Vanities and Components) disagreed with the association on the issue of anti-circumvention and withdrew from KCMA.

In April 2022, KCMA requested the U.S. Department of Commerce to conduct a scoping investigation on imported wooden cabinets, bathroom cabinets and their accessories from China for further processing in Vietnam and Malaysia (including parts produced in Vietnam and Malaysia), and requested that such commodities be activated Anti-circumvention procedures. American Woodmark, MasterBrand Cabinets, Cabinetworks Group recommended to the American Cabinet Association that the anti-circumvention investigation request for such products be withdrawn. After the proposal was rejected, the three companies applied to the association to withdraw from the association, and the final decision was announced at the American Cabinet Association's fall annual meeting held recently.

American Woodmark, MasterBrand Cabinets, and Cabinetworks Group said in a joint statement: "We oppose KCMA's expansion of the Commerce Department's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy orders against Chinese wooden cabinets, bathroom cabinets and their accessories, and have been investigating this cross-border investigation and Its timing expresses strong concern. Over the past few months, the KCMA has clearly disagreed with this view, so we have decided to withdraw from the association.” The statement also emphasized that “the U.S. cabinet and bathroom cabinet industry needs legal imports to support domestic employment and On-time delivery to domestic customers is guaranteed, and we don’t want penalties for legal imports like this.”

On June 10, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an announcement to launch an anti-circumvention investigation on wooden cabinets and bathroom cabinets and their components imported from China. Review whether the products involved were manufactured in Vietnam and Malaysia and exported to the United States to avoid the United States' anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese wooden cabinets and bathroom cabinets and their components.

All along, the Cabinet Manufacturers Association of America (KCMA) and the Cabinet Manufacturers Alliance (AKCA), which is closely related to it, have been tough on Chinese imports. On February 6, 2021, the U.S. Cabinet Alliance charged the U.S. Cabinet Warehouse Company with customs for importing goods from Vietnam without declaring that they contained Chinese components without properly paying anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD).