The United States imported nearly $360 million worth of birch plywood from Vietnam and Indonesia in 2024, despite neither country having native birch forests, according to the Decorative Hardwoods Association (DHA). The DHA says these imports are produced using Russian-origin birch, fueling concerns about unfair trade practices and environmental damage.
In a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the DHA urged the administration to increase tariffs on birch plywood imports and ban products made with Russian wood. The association argues that these imports undermine American manufacturers and indirectly support Russia’s economy, citing that Russian logs are often harvested from state-owned forests using unsustainable practices.
Vietnam accounted for about $200 million of birch plywood shipments to the U.S., while Indonesia contributed nearly $160 million. By comparison, direct imports from Russia totaled only $62 million. DHA noted that Vietnam directly imports birch logs from Russia and also sources birch veneers from China, which are produced using Russian logs.
The DHA warned that these imports frequently enter the U.S. duty-free, bypassing the standard 8% tariff imposed on other hardwood species. This loophole has allowed some importers to mislabel products, for example, birch plywood with a birch back and a white oak face may be marketed as white oak plywood to evade duties.
U.S. hardwood plywood manufacturers reduced production to 676 million square feet in 2023, while imports from Vietnam surged 52% in 2024 to nearly 615 million square feet. Domestic capacity utilization has fallen to around 50%, with the DHA attributing mill closures and rural job losses to the surge in low-cost imports.
The DHA’s letter called for the administration to tighten enforcement and strengthen trade laws, warning that the continued flow of Russian-origin wood through third countries puts U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage and undermines efforts to promote sustainable forestry.
Concerns about circumvention tactics involving Russian wood have also prompted action in Europe. In May 2024, the European Commission expanded its anti-dumping measures on birch plywood to include imports from Turkey and Kazakhstan, following an investigation into strategic efforts to bypass duties initially imposed on Russian products in 2021. Detailed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1287, this expansion aims to close loopholes that enabled the continued flow of Russian-origin plywood into EU markets.
Further scrutiny emerged in October 2024, when the European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation into hardwood plywood imports from China. The investigation followed a complaint from the Greenwood Consortium, representing the EU’s hardwood plywood industry, which argued that Chinese imports are being sold at artificially low prices, undercutting European producers and violating fair trade rules. The consortium also raised concerns that these products may contain Russian wood, which has been banned in the EU since the Ukraine invasion in 2022.
