Adds detail on Ineos complaint
The UK's Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) from the US following a complaint filed by Ineos Olefins and Polymers UK, the country's sole producer of the grade.
The investigation, which began today, 1 July, will assess Ineos' claims that US-origin LLDPE has been sold in the UK at dumped prices, injuring the domestic industry. Ineos said US export prices were lower than normal value and that the resulting imports hurt the UK market through lower sales, lost market share, weaker prices, reduced profitability, withdrawn investment and fewer jobs.
The dumping probe covers 1 January-31 December 2025, while the injury assessment spans 1 January 2022-31 December 2025.
The UK imported 102,400t of LLDPE from the US in 2025, under the HS codes 39011010 and 390140, according to Global Trade Tracker data. This was up from 81,100t in 2024 and 50,000t in 2023.
"Not only are US exporting producers of LLDPE undercutting UK pricing, but they are consistently and steadily exerting downward pressure on pricing, encouraging a race to the bottom, while prices in the US domestic market remain relatively stable, and, on average, at a 40–50pc higher price point than in the UK market", Ineos said in its application.
Ineos's UK LLDPE plant could not operate continuously in 2025, instead relying on limited runs equivalent to 25-40pc operating rates, Ineos said. The company announced a support package from the UK government valued at £120mn ($159.4mn) in December 2025 that has provided "basic funding to continue operations for the next five years", but failure to take action could threaten the future of its LLDPE plant and the associated steam cracker in Grangemouth, which supplies ethylene processed from imported US ethane and gases from the North Sea, the company said.
LLDPE is widely used in packaging films and other flexible plastic applications.
Interested parties have until 16 July to register for the investigation. The authority plans to issue questionnaires on 24 July, with responses due by 24 August. Verification work is scheduled for September and October.
The TRA said it may propose provisional measures between October and December if it finds enough evidence of dumping and injury. Such measures could require importers to provide guarantees against potential anti-dumping duty.
The TRA expects to publish preliminary findings in February 2027 and make a final recommendation to the secretary of state for business and trade in June 2027.
