Certification Needed for Malaysian Quartz-Surface Imports
WASHINGTON – Quartz surfaces from Malaysia now must follow specific certification rules in the wake of a federal investigation into materials possibly transshipped from China.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) put the new procedure into effect today, after publication in the Federal Register, for all quartz surfaces coming from Malaysia.
The certification process not only includes future shipments from the Southeast Asian country, but an unknown number of previous shipments dating back to last November.
The action came after the ITA began an inquiry in February into allegations of quartz-surface products being sent from China to Malaysia, and then shipped to the United States as Malaysian-made.
The ITA ruling now requires any quartz surfaces shipped from Malaysia to the United States to have signed certification from both the exporting and the importing companies that the materials do not include quartz-slab products from China.
The certification also notes that failure to verify such claims can lead to imposition of the unfair-trade tariffs of 300%-plus placed on Chinese quartz products by the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2018.
The ITA ruling also affects any quartz-surface products shipped from Malaysia since last Nov. 4 that haven’t been fully cleared (or “liquidated”) by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Those shipments must also meet the new certification guidelines or possibly be subject to the Chinese quartz tariff, even if the material has been transported out of ports-of-entry and used in fabrication.
In addition, nine Malaysian companies will be ineligible to ship quartz surfaces to the United States using the certification process, due to non-cooperation during the ITA inquiry:
Bada Industries SDN BHD (Bada Industries);
Ever Stone World SDN BHD (Ever Stone);
Karina Stone;
MSI Building Supply SDN (MSI);
Principal Safwa (M) SDN (Principal);
Resstone Manufacturing (Resstone);
SCLM Services SDN BHD (SCLM);
Unique Stone SDN BHD (Unique Stone); and
Universal Quartz.
A representative for Orange, Calif.-based M S International affirmed Friday that the U.S. company is not affiliated, in any way, with the MSI-named firm in Malaysia.
“In 2018, American quartz manufacturers and their employees gained a victory, when the AD/CVD duties were imposed on illegally dumped and subsidized quartz from China,” said Marty Davis, president and CEO of U.S. quartz-surface manufacturer Cambria. “This action opened the door for the launching and expansion of U.S. quartz manufacturing factories; total investments since that time will be upwards of $800 million in new U.S.-based factories, with thousands of new U.S. based jobs.
“But, this Chinese merchandise illegally transshipped through Malaysia puts this and even more future investment in jeopardy.”
Malaysia went from zero shipments of quartz surfaces to the United States in 2018 to 16.3 million ft² in 2021, according to data from Hard-Surface Report. However, the ITA investigation itself seems to have throttled most Malaysian quartz shipments well before today’s ruling.
In this year’s first quarter, Malaysia sent 3.7 million ft² of quartz slab to the United States; in the second quarter, shipments dropped to 1.2 million ft² and continue to decline.
From this year’s biggest month in March of nearly 1.6 million ft², quartz-slab deliveries from Malaysia slumped to not quite 138,000 ft² in August through U.S. ports-of-entry.
