In a unanimous vote, the six members of the US International Trade Commission (ITC, Washington, DC; www.usitc.gov) have given the final green light for the government to proceed with anti-dumping duties on imports of PET resin from Canada, China, India and Oman. The ITC, part of the Department of Commerce, agreed with the three US players seeking the action that imports from the four countries were “causing injury to the domestic industry” and that imports from China and India were also subsidised.

The Commerce Department will now issue the antidumping and countervailing duty orders, which will require US importers to deposit the duties at the time the resins enter the country. The duties will remain in place for at least five years and may be renewed in five-year increments. The department will also impose countervailing duty rates of 6.83-47.56% on imports of PET resin from China and 5.12 -153.80% on imports of PET resin from India.

The US decision, applauded by domestic players, represents the culmination of a year-long procedure that began in March 2015 with a petition filed by DAK Americas, Nan Ya Plastics and M&G Polymers (see Plasteurope.com of 25.06.2015, 18.08.2015 and 27.10.2015). The companies charged that the surge of cheap imports from the four countries in recent years have displaced the US industry’s sales and market share. Consequently, homegrown producers have suffered from reduced prices and profits.

Based on 2014 figures, US authorities in late 2015 determined that Canada was the country with the highest US dollar-denominated production value of PET resin imports, worth USD 239m. Imports from China were valued at USD 92.1m, Indian deliveries at USD 51.7m and products from Oman worth USD 51.1m.

In the final determination, announced on 31 March, Canada’s sole mandatory respondent, Selenis Canada, received a final dumping tariff of 13.60%. The same rate will apply to all other producers/exporters in Canada selling to the United States. Material from India and China was hit by much higher margins, although somewhat lower than expected.

China’s four mandatory respondents Far Eastern Industries, its affiliate Oriental Industries, along with Jiangyin Xingyu New Materials and its affiliates received final duties of 104.12% and 118.19% respectively. Four other Chinese exporters were hit with a dumping rate of 114.38%, and all others with the China-wide duty of 126.43%, which the ITC said was based on the failure of other parties to respond to information requests or otherwise participate in the Commerce Department’s investigation.

Among Indian exporters, two of the mandatory respondents, Reliance and Ester Industries, received final dumping margins of 8.03% and 14.23% respectively. The two other mandatory respondents, Dhunseri Petrochemical and JBF Industries, neither of which responded to the department's questionnaire, received a final dumping margin of 19.41%. All other Indian exporters received a final dumping margin of 1.13%, which was higher than the preliminary assessment. The ITC accepted the “critical circumstances” allegations of the US petitioners against JBF and all other producers/exporters except Dhunseri.

As regards Oman, the country’s lone mandatory respondent, Octal, received a final duty rate of only 0.59%, far below the 6.62% proposed in the preliminary probe. The ITC determined that imports from Oman were, in customs jargon, de minimis, meaning of little value.

Commenting on the decision, Paul Rosenthal of the international law firm Kelley Drye (www.kelleydrye.com), lead trade counsel to the petitioners, said: "We have maintained throughout this case that the skyrocketing volume of imports of PET resin from Canada, China, India and Oman has injured the domestic industry with aggressive, dumped and subsidised prices. The domestic industry is extremely pleased that the Commission agreed and that these importers will now be subject to the discipline of trade orders to offset these practices.”