Indian trade body recommends duties on China PET resin

India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) yesterday recommended imposing provisional anti-dumping duties (ADD) on China-produced PET resin, to protect local manufacturers.

In preliminary findings under an ongoing probe, Chinese PET resin with the specification intrinsic viscosity (IV) of 0.72 or higher, under the HS codes 390761 and 390769, will be affected. China Zhejiang Wankai will have the lowest ADD of $15.54/t, and Jiangsu Sanfangxiang will be charged $60.92/t, if implemented. Other Chinese PET resin producers will face ADDs of $146.11-200.66/t.

The probe began in October after Reliance Industries and Dhunseri Petrochemical filed the application to initiate the anti-dumping investigation. They complained that huge imports from China affected local businesses.

India is China's largest PET resin export market. India imported 299,000t of PET resin in 2019 from China, an increase of more than 50pc compared with 2018.

PET resin is an important material in packaging, mainly used for the manufacturing of preforms, which are converted into PET bottle and jars for the storage of mineral water, carbonated soft drinks, edible oils, and pharmaceutical products.