Pet Resin in Short Supply in the U.S.
The United States has eliminated its anti-dumping duty on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from South Korea.
According to the Korea International Trade Association, the U.S. Department of Commerce made the decision on October 18 (local time) based on its anti-dumping investigation into the item. The U.S. is going to eliminate its anti-dumping duties on PET resin from Brazil, India, Pakistan and Taiwan as well.
The duties, which were immediately applied and collected after preliminary determinations, are going to be returned.
The U.S. imposed the anti-dumping duty on PET resin produced by South Korean manufacturers in May this year. The Department of Commerce initiated an investigation on September 26, 2017 after four U.S. companies including Nan Ya Plastics filed a complaint against resin imports from abroad. On May 1, 2018, it made a preliminary determination in favor of the American companies.
At that time, SK Chemical, Lotte Chemical and TK Chemical were subject to the investigation. A tariff rate of 8.81% was applied to SK Chemical, but the rate amounted to 101.41% for the others.
According to industry sources, the department overturned its decision because of supply and demand situations. “The U.S. PET resin market underwent an undersupply of raw materials and an increase in price from this past summer to autumn, and American companies made a request for tariff elimination,” one of them mentioned.
According to the department, South Korea’s PET resin exports to the United States totaled US$127.29 million last year. The amount for the first seven months of this year is US$39.02 million, down 6.7% from a year ago.