At present, about 70% of American beds and related products are imported. However, before Washington intervened and tried to protect the domestic furniture industry from the "dumping" of Chinese products, the proportion was 58%. Trade concerns have prompted calls for tougher action in Washington to protect American jobs. Did the tariff work? As far as furniture is concerned, this has obviously slowed down the operation speed of China's export machinery. In 2004, before the tariff came into effect, China exported 1.2 billion dollars worth of bedroom furniture to the United States, compared with 691 million dollars last year.
However, at this stage, the import volume from Vietnam, where the wage level and production costs are even lower than China, has exploded, increasing from 151 million dollars to 931 million dollars. At the same time, the number of job losses in the United States is accelerating. The number of Americans engaged in the production of bedroom furniture is less than half of that before the imposition of tariffs.
China's irresistible export power is not unstoppable. Just ask the president of Woodworth Wood Furniture Company. His factory in Dongguan used to export 400 containers of bedroom furniture to the United States every month, but now there are only 60 containers. This is what the exhausted American competitors hope to happen. In January 2005, the US Department of Commerce imposed import tariffs on Chinese made beds, bedside tables and related products. However, the next thing did not develop as expected by the United States: Yan opened a factory in Vietnam and began to export products to the United States from there. Others did the same. Now, he is building a large factory in Indonesia, hoping to export more products to the United States.
Some small manufacturers in the United States formed a group to set up the Legitimate Trade Commission for American Furniture Manufacturers and asked Washington to "save them from death". With the help of the trade union, they submitted a petition accusing Chinese competitors of dumping furniture in the US market. After a long debate, the US Department of Commerce ruled that China was dumping at a "low price" and began to impose tariffs on Chinese exporters. Dongguan furniture manufacturers held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. They set up a fund to support lobbying efforts in Washington and began to hire lawyers to fight lawsuits. Yan has another idea. He said, "I told them that I would build a factory in Vietnam." He explained that this would not only enable his company to avoid US tariffs, but also get rid of China's rising production costs.
Vietnam has now replaced China as the main source of furniture sales in the United States, thanks to the transfer of factories from Dongguan and other places to Vietnam. Travis, an American furniture buyer who has moved from Virginia to Dongguan Bell dismissed the claim that anti-dumping provisions have helped American industries. "The only thing that will change is where you eat dinner," he said. "It used to be in Dongguan, but now it is in Ho Chi Minh City."
Looking at the Future of Chinese Furniture Manufacturing from the Perspective of the General Environment of American Furniture Industry
With reference to the development of the furniture industry in the United States, it may be possible to find a new way out for the confused Chinese furniture industry. Looking at the way out of Chinese furniture from the perspective of the American furniture industry during the industry transformation period, "taking copper as the mirror, you can correct your clothes; taking people as the mirror, you can learn from your gains and losses; taking history as the mirror, you can see the rise and fall."
1、 The General Environment of American Furniture Industry
1. The furniture industry in the United States shifted three times: it first developed from the northeastern region, namely New York, Pennsylvania and New England, then moved to the central and western regions, and then moved to the southern region. Each transfer is actually moving to areas with lower manufacturing costs and rich high-quality hardwood resources. This "transfer of manufacturing capacity" is also true in China's furniture industry.
2. Globalization has had a very serious negative impact on the furniture manufacturing industry in the United States. From 1992 to 2005, the import of all furniture products increased from 4.1 billion dollars to 23.65 billion dollars, an increase of almost 20 billion dollars, or 477%. From 1997 to 2005, 108000 jobs were lost in the furniture industry other than kitchen cabinets, It accounted for 21% of the unemployed workers in the United States during this period.
3. The impact of the change of furniture consumption concept on the furniture industry in the United States: like many mass-produced consumer goods, civilian furniture has become a "common commodity" more like a bulk commodity, and the sales volume depends on the price. Consumers no longer regard furniture as a thing worth spending money, and less and less money will be spent on furniture; At the same time, furniture enterprises compete for price in the market, and their profits shrink greatly, but their production costs are rising. As a result, the investment in factories and equipment has dropped significantly, which ultimately leads to the technology and equipment of many American furniture factories falling behind.
