The European Commission has imposed definitive duties on imports of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) from Taiwan and South Korea into the EU.
The duties are set on a cif basis at the EU border and typically apply for five years.
South Korea's LG Chem and Lotte Chemical received duties of 7.5pc and 5.2pc, respectively, while other unnamed Korean producers were assigned a 7.5pc rate. The duty for LG Chem is 3.8 percentage points higher than the provisional level, while Lotte Chemical's declined by 0.6 percentage points. Duties for other unnamed Korean companies rose by 1.7 percentage points.
Taiwanese firms Chimei and Grand Pacific Petrochemical were each assigned a 10.9pc duty, up by 0.1 percentage points from the provisional level. Formosa Chemical and Fibre received the highest rate at 21.7pc, unchanged from the provisional duty. Duties on other unnamed Taiwanese producers also remained unchanged at 21.7pc.
The definitive measures follow provisional duties introduced in August 2025. Several producers told Argus the provisional duties did not provide enough of a deterrent to curb imports.
During the investigation period, when imports had to be registered with EU customs, the commission found that volumes rose by 6pc on a monthly average basis before provisional duties were imposed. Import prices increased by 2-3pc in the same period. On this basis, it concluded that higher inflows at slightly firmer prices were not sufficient grounds to apply definitive duties retroactively. The definitive rates will apply from 12 February 2026.
South Korea and Taiwan are Europe's two largest ABS suppliers. Europe imported about 195,000t of ABS from the two countries during January-November 2025, according to Global Trade Tracker (GTT). Imports in 2025 were broadly in line with previous years, averaging around 200,000 t/yr since 2021. The introduction of provisional duties in the third quarter did not appear to affect volumes, with third-quarter imports up by about 2pc on the year. Mid-fourth-quarter 2025 figures were roughly half of full fourth-quarter imports in 2024.
