Possible duty increase on bed springs

Bedding Component Manufacturers brought an application to increase the duties on helical springs, from the existing duty rate of 5% to the maximum bound rate of 30%.  The duty increase will be effected by the creation of a new tariff subheading to deal only with springs that are made with wire of a diameter of more than 1.32mm, but not exceeding 2.43mm. The existing tariff code is 7320.20, so the duty increase will be on a subset of this tariff code. The reasons they provided are:

• The import prices are very low
• The final product cost is higher than the import price
• Jobs have been lost due to imports

You can view the initiation gazette below: Helical Springs duty increase initiation gazette

Imports not impacted by the duty increase

It is interesting to note that only 29% of the import volume of the existing tariff subheading for the period May 2013 to April 2014 will actually be impacted by this duty increase application (if it is successful), and this import volume is actually more expensive than the imports excluded from the review.  The reason that 71% of the import volume is excluded from the review is because these imports are from either the EU or the SADC regions and these duties cannot be increased. Of course, the more narrowly defined tariff code (1.32mm to 2.43mm) that will be created, may actually account for a substantial portion of the imports that are not from the EU or SADC, which would make the duty effective.

Response period

Interested parties have until 18 July 2014 to respond to the duty increase application.  Any responses received after this period will not be considered.