Southeast Asia mattress makers step up U.S. imports

WASHINGTON—As U.S. imports of Chinese-made mattresses fall steeply in the wake of tariffs—some reaching as high as 1,732 percent—Southeast Asia manufacturers are quickly filling the gap.

Figures from the U.S. International Trade Commission show that mattress imports from China were down by 68 percent at 3.7 million in the first half of the year, following the announcement of the tariffs. But sharp rises in imports from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia have offset this.

The U.S. imported 761,000 fewer mattresses that claim China as their production origin since the start of 2019. But 856,000 more mattresses have been imported from Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia during that time. In 2018, those countries exported a total of 111,804 mattresses to the U.S.

Meanwhile, imports from the Philippines went from 6 in the full year of 2018 to 12,788 in the first half of 2019. U.S. mattress imports from Malaysia jumped from 183 for all of 2018 to 142,198 in the first half of this year.

Indonesian imports have grown from 8,833 in the first half of 2018 to 257,198 in the first half of 2019.

Imports from Vietnam increased 440 percent to 555,400 units between the first half of 2018 and the start of 2019.

At the same time, however, Thai mattress exports to the U.S. fell by 4,000 units to to 68,733 in the first half of 2019. Exports from Hong Kong were down 85 percent to 8,754 units and Japanese exports fell by 90 percent to 834 units.

Taiwanese producers exported 8,000 fewer units in the first half of 2019 at 37,000 units.