Ceramic Tile from China Investigation Nos. 701-TA-621 and 731-TA-1447 (Final) Publication 5053 May2020 U.S. International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 U.S. International Trade Commission COMMISSIONERS David S. Johanson, Chairman Rhonda K. Schmidtlein Jason E. Kearns Randolph J. Stayin Amy A. Karpel Catherine Defilippo Director of Operations Staffassigned Christopher W. Robinson, Investigator Alejandro Orozco, Investigator Karl Tsuji Industry Analyst Cindy Cohen, Economist Joanna Lo, Auditor Aaron Woodward, Statistician Patrick Gallagher, Attorney Nathanael Comly, Supervisory Investigator Address all communications to Secretary to the Commission United States International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 U.S. International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 www.usitc.gov Ceramic Tile from China Investigation Nos. 701-TA-621 and 731-TA-1447 (Final) Publication 5053 May2020 CONTENTS Page Determinations ............................................................................................................................... 1 Views of the Commission ............................................................................................................... 3 Dissenting Views of David S. Johanson, Chairman ..................................................................... 34 Part I: Introduction .............................................................................................................. I-1 Background ................................................................................................................................ I-1 Statutory criteria ....................................................................................................................... I-2 Organization of report ............................................................................................................... I-3 Market summary ....................................................................................................................... I-3 Summary data and data sources ............................................................................................... I-4 Previous and related investigations .......................................................................................... I-5 Commission Investigations .................................................................................................... I-5 Section 301 proceeding ......................................................................................................... I-5 Nature and extent of subsidies and sales at LTFV .................................................................... I-6 Subsidies ................................................................................................................................ I-6 Sales at LTFV .......................................................................................................................... I-6 The subject merchandise .......................................................................................................... I-6 Commerce’s scope ................................................................................................................ I-6 Tariff treatment ..................................................................................................................... I-7 The product ............................................................................................................................... I-9 Description and applications ................................................................................................. I-9 Manufacturing processes .................................................................................................... I-14 Domestic like product issues ................................................................................................... I-18 Part II: Conditions of competition in the U.S. market........................................................... II-1 U.S. market characteristics....................................................................................................... II-1 U.S. purchasers ......................................................................................................................... II-3 Channels of distribution ........................................................................................................... II-3 Geographic distribution ........................................................................................................... II-5 Supply and demand considerations ......................................................................................... II-5 U.S. supply ............................................................................................................................ II-5 U.S. demand ......................................................................................................................... II-8 i CONTENTS Page Substitutability issues ............................................................................................................. II-12 Lead times .......................................................................................................................... II-13 Knowledge of country sources ........................................................................................... II-13 Factors affecting purchasing decisions............................................................................... II-13 Comparisons of domestic products, subject imports, and nonsubject imports ................ II-16 Comparison of U.S.-produced and imported ceramic tile ................................................. II-18 Elasticity estimates ................................................................................................................. II-20 U.S. supply elasticity ........................................................................................................... II-20 U.S. demand elasticity ........................................................................................................ II-21 Substitution elasticity ......................................................................................................... II-21 Part III: U.S. producers’ production, shipments, and employment ...................................... III-1 U.S. producers ......................................................................................................................... III-1 U.S. production, capacity, and capacity utilization ................................................................. III-8 U.S. producers’ U.S. shipments and exports ......................................................................... III-11 U.S. producers’ inventories ................................................................................................... III-18 U.S. producers’ imports......................................................................................................... III-19 U.S. employment, wages, and productivity .......................................................................... III-23 Part IV: U.S. imports, apparent U.S. consumption, and market shares ............................... IV-1 U.S. importers.......................................................................................................................... IV-1 U.S. imports ............................................................................................................................. IV-3 Critical circumstances .............................................................................................................. IV-8 Negligibility ............................................................................................................................ IV-10 Apparent U.S. consumption .................................................................................................. IV-12 U.S. market shares ................................................................................................................ IV-13 U.S. shipments by product type ............................................................................................ IV-16 Mosaic ceramic tile ............................................................................................................ IV-16 Non-mosaic ceramic tile .................................................................................................... IV-18 Ceramic floor tile ............................................................................................................... IV-20 Ceramic wall tile ................................................................................................................ IV-22 ii CONTENTS Page Other ceramic tile .............................................................................................................. IV-24 Porcelain ceramic tile ........................................................................................................ IV-26 Non-porcelain ceramic tile ................................................................................................ IV-28 Part V: Pricing data ............................................................................................................. V-1 Factors affecting prices ............................................................................................................ V-1 Raw material costs ..............................................................................................................