Domestic mattress producers could see an uptick in business—especially at the low-end—after anti-dumping duties led to a dramatic decline in imported mattresses.
Back in 2018, a group of countries led by Vietnam was importing approximately 8,000 mattresses into the United States.
Not a big deal.
But when that number grew to 4.2 million the very next year, the mattress industry took notice. Those leading the charge uncovered unfair business practices called dumping, in which foreign entities subsidize products and sell them into the U.S. at unfair prices.
Domestic mattress industry leaders took action to encourage the U.S. government to impose anti-dumping duties.
In April 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the initiation of new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations for imported mattresses. The idea was to determine whether mattresses from seven countries — Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam — are being sold in the U.S. at “less than fair value.” Its aim was also to determine if producers in China are receiving unfair subsidies.
Now, an industry report from financial firm Raymond James shows that U.S. mattress imports dropped 46% in November 2020 in part due to the anti-dumping duties, which went into effect that month. It marks the first year-over-year decline since 2019, although imports did bounce back in October, increasing 33%.
However, U.S. International Trade Commission data shows that mattress imports declined year-over-year in six of the seven countries targeted under the antidumping duties. While Vietnam, 2020’s largest mattress importer, saw a 128,000-unit decline from November 2019 to November 2020, Turkey increased imports by 19,000 units year over year.
Eighty-nine percent of total imported units came from these seven countries, adding up to over eight million mattresses.
So what does this mean for the U.S. industry?
According to Raymond James, it’s good news. They see the decline as “encouraging” and said that “the antidumping duties have the potential to provide a nice tailwind for U.S. mattress producers in 2021, especially at the low end of the price spectrum.”
