Wood Flooring and Hardwood Plywood - Producers

GENERAL INFORMATION, INSTRUCTIONS, AND DEFINITIONS

FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE PRODUCERS AND/OR IMPORTERS OF WOOD FLOORING AND/OR HARDWOOD PLYWOOD

WOOD FLOORING AND HARDWOOD PLYWOOD: COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE U.S. INDUSTRIES

Investigation No. 332-487

Further Information

If you have any questions concerning the enclosed questionnaires or other matters related to this investigation, you may contact the following members of the Commission's staff:

Cynthia Foreso (202-205-3348, cynthia.foreso@usitc.gov)

Gail Burns (202-205-2501, gail.burns@usitc.gov)

GENERAL INFORMATION, INSTRUCTIONS, AND DEFINITIONS

FOR PRODUCER AND IMPORTER QUESTIONNAIRES

BACKGROUND.--The U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission) is conducting this investigation in response to a request from the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to prepare a report on the competitive conditions affecting the U.S. wood flooring and hardwood plywood industries.

The Commission has determined that questionnaires are the best method to obtain information on various aspects of the U.S. industry and market. The Commission has designed the enclosed questionnaires for producers and importers of wood flooring and/or hardwood plywood for this purpose.

DUE DATE OF QUESTIONNAIRE.--Return the completed questionnaires to the Commission by no later than October 30, 2007. Use of an overnight mail service is necessary to ensure that your response actually reaches the Commission by this due date.

Additional questionnaires will be supplied promptly upon request (see Further Information section below for contact information), or photocopies of the enclosed questionnaires may be used.

NONDISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION.--The commercial and financial data furnished in response to the enclosed questionnaires that reveal the individual operations of your firm will be treated as confidential business information by the Commission to the extent that such data are not otherwise available to the public and will not be published in a manner that will reveal the individual operations of your firm and will not be disclosed except as may be required by law. Such confidential information will not be published in a manner that will reveal the individual operations of your firm; however, nonnumerical characterizations of numerical business proprietary information (such as discussion of trends) will be treated as confidential business information only at the request of the submitter for good cause shown. Section 332(g) provides that the Commission may not release information which the Commission considers to be confidential business information (under Commission Rule 201.6 (19 CFR 201.6)) unless the party submitting the confidential business information had notice, at the time of submission, that such information would be released by the Commission, or such party subsequently consents to the release of the information. The Senate Committee on Finance has requested that the Commission provide a non-confidential (public) report.

In addition, by signing the certification on the cover page of the enclosed questionnaire, the signing official authorizes that information submitted in this questionnaire response and throughout this investigation may be used by the Commission, its employees, and contract personnel who are acting in the capacity of Commission employees, for developing or maintaining the records of this investigation or related proceedings for which this information is submitted, or in internal audits and in investigations relating to the programs and operations of the Commission pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Appendix 3. All contract personnel will sign non-disclosure agreements.

VERIFICATION.--The information submitted in the enclosed questionnaire is subject to audit and verification by the Commission. To facilitate verification of data, please keep all your workpapers and supporting documents used in the preparation of the questionnaire response(s).

FURTHER INFORMATION.--If you have any questions concerning this questionnaire or other matters related to this investigation, please contact Cynthia Foreso (202-205-3348, cynthia.foreso@usitc.gov) or Gail Burns (202-205-2501, gail.burns@usitc.gov). Additional questionnaires will be supplied promptly upon request, or photocopies of this questionnaire may be used. Address all correspondence to:

U.S. International Trade Commission

Natural Resources and Metals Division, Room 511-A

500 E Street SW. Washington, DC 20436

fax: 202/205-2217

INFORMATION FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED.--Hearing-impaired individuals can obtain information regarding this investigation via TDD terminal (202/205-1810).

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Answer all questions.–Do not leave any question or section blank unless a question expressly directs you to skip over certain questions or sections. If the answer to any question is zero, so indicate; if it is not available, indicate N/A rather than leave the space blank. If the information requested is not readily available from your records, please furnish carefully prepared estimates.

Consolidate all U.S. establishments.–Report the requested data for your establishment(s) located in the United States and United States insular possessions. Firms operating more than one establishment should combine the data for all establishments into a single report.

GENERAL DEFINITIONS:

Average production capacity.–The level of production that your establishment(s) could reasonably have expected to attain during the specified periods. Assume normal operating conditions (i.e., using equipment and machinery in place and ready to operate; normal operating level (hours per week/weeks per year) and time for downtime, maintenance, repair, and cleanup; and a typical or representative product mix).

Costs of goods sold.– An income statement figure that reflects the cost of obtaining raw materials and producing finished goods that are sold to consumers. Cost of Goods Sold = Beginning Merchandise Inventory + Net Purchases of Merchandise - Ending Merchandise Inventory.

Establishment.–Each plant of a firm in the United States (the 50 States and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia) and United States insular possessions in which wood flooring or hardwood plywood is produced and all auxiliary facilities operated in conjunction with (whether or not physically separate from) such production facilities, e.g., warehouses, shipping facilities, and the like.

Firm.–An individual proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, association, corporation (including all divisions, any subsidiary corporations, and parent corporations), business trust, cooperative, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers under decree of any court, owning or controlling one or more establishments, as defined below.

Fiscal year.–The 12-month period between settlement of your firm's financial accounts.

Importer.–Any person or firm engaged, either directly or through a parent company or subsidiary, in importing certain wood flooring and/or hardwood plywood (as defined above) into the United States from a foreign manufacturer or through its selling agent.

Imports.–Those products identified for Customs purposes as imports for consumption for which your firm was the importer of record (i.e., was responsible for paying any import duty) or consignee (i.e., to which the merchandise was first delivered).

Import quantities.–Quantities reported should be net of returns.

Import values.–Values reported should be landed, duty-paid but not including antidumping and/or countervailing duties, at the U.S. port of entry, including ocean freight and insurance costs, brokerage charges, and normal import duties (i.e., including all charges except inland freight in the United States and antidumping and/or countervailing duties).

Intracompany and intercompany transfers.–Sales of the subject products within or between your firm's plants, divisions, and/or related companies. Arm's length transactions between a joint venture and one of its partners are not considered transfers.

PRWs (production and related workers).–Production and related workers include working supervisors and all nonsupervisory workers (including group leaders and trainees) who are (1) engaged in fabricating, processing, assembling, inspecting, or (2) receiving, storing, handling, packing, warehousing, shipping, trucking, hauling, maintenance, repair, janitorial and guard services, product development, auxiliary production for the plant's own use (e.g., power plant), recordkeeping, and other services closely associated with the above-defined production.

Related firm.–An entity that your firm solely or jointly owns, manages, or otherwise controls; a firm that solely or jointly owns, manages, or otherwise controls your firm; and/or a firm that was solely or jointly owned, managed, or otherwise controlled by a firm that also solely or jointly owned, managed, or otherwise controlled your firm.

Shipments.–Shipments of products produced in your U.S. establishments. Quantities reported

should be net of returns. Values should be net values.

Types of shipments.–

U.S. shipments.–Commercial shipments, internal consumption, and transfers to related firms, within the United States.

Commercial shipments.– Shipments, other than internal consumption and transfers to related firms, within the United States

Internal consumption.– Product consumed internally by your firm.

Transfers to related firms. – Shipments made to related domestic firms.

Export shipments.–Shipments to destinations outside the United States, including

shipments to related firms.

Subsidiary.–A company controlled by another company that owns all or a majority of its shares.

United States.–For purposes of this review, the 50 States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.

COMMODITY SPECIFIC DEFINITIONS:

Architectural plywood grades. –For the purposes of this report, architectural plywood grades are those with face veneers graded AA, and better.

End-matched flooring.– Wood flooring with tongues and grooves on opposite ends of individual planks as well as on the sides (i.e., side-matched) to provide a tight end to end fit between pieces.

Engineered wood flooring.–Flooring constructed of multiple layers of wood or wood veneer in a fashion similar to plywood. Individual pieces are side- and end-matched and are often prefinished. Engineered flooring differs from laminate flooring in that laminate flooring has a printed paper wear layer on HDF or MDF core.

FSC.–Forest Stewardship Council certification program.

Hardwood .–A general term used to distinguish the wood from broad-leafed, often deciduous trees from softwoods (i.e., conifers and other evergreens), which have needle-like or scale-like leaves.

Hardwood plywood. – A flat panel comprised of a face ply of hardwood veneer and a core and back ply of other veneer in which the grains of adjacent layers are at right angles and which are glued together under heat and pressure. Also included is plywood with a coniferous face if it is intended to be used for decorative purposes. Solid wood, particle board, or medium density fiberboard may be substituted for veneer in the core of the panel.

High-density fiberboard (HDF). – A dry-formed panel made by compressing wood fiber and a binder (e.g., synthetic resin) in a hot press with a resulting density greater than 800 kilograms per cubic meter.

Medium density fiberboard (MDF).–A dry-formed panel made by compressing wood fiber and a binder (e.g., synthetic resin) in a hot press with a resulting density between 500-800 kilograms per cubic meter.

Multi-strip flooring.–For the purposes of this questionnaire, multi-strip flooring is defined as engineered flooring that is manufactured in a wide panel having the appearance, when installed, of multiple individual (usually 2 or 3) strips of flooring.

Parquet flooring .– For the purposes of this report, parquet is a floor composed of small pieces of wood arranged in a geometric or mosaic pattern.

Particle board.–A panel made from discrete particles of wood (as opposed to individual fibers) and resins formed under heat and pressure.

Plank flooring.–For the purposes of this questionnaire, plank flooring is defined as solid or engineered flooring generally greater than 3 inches in width (except that flooring of a width of 3-1/4 inch is considered to be strip flooring).

Platform.–Also known as a blank, a platform is a plywood core to which a face ply will be affixed.

Prefinishing.–Also known as factory-finishing, prefinishing refers to coatings of primer, paint, stain, or other materials that are applied before the product is taken to a job site. Prefinished flooring is sanded and finished at the factory, so it only needs installation, whereas unfinished flooring must be sanded and finished after installation.

Solid wood flooring.–Flooring milled from solid wood. There are three main types: strip flooring (in widths of 1½ inches, 2 inches, 2¼ inches, and 3¼ inches), plank flooring (in widths from 3 inches to 8 inches), and parquet flooring (geometrical patterns composed of wood slats held in place by mechanical fasteners or adhesives).

Strip flooring.–For the purposes of this questionnaire, strip flooring is defined as solid or engineered flooring in widths of 1½ inches, 2 inches, 2¼ inches, and 3¼ inches. The strips are usually side-matched and end-matched (tongue and grooved).

SFI.–Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification program.

Veneer.–Wood peeled or sliced into sheets of a constant thickness which are typically combined with glue and stacked to form plywood or laminated veneer lumber.

Wide width plank flooring.–For the purposes of this questionnaire, wide width plank flooring is defined as solid or engineered flooring 5 inches in width or greater.

Wood flooring.–Solid and engineered lumber side-matched and often end-matched to be used to construct flooring.