India may impose BIS rules on more petchem imports

India is considering whether to require imports of polymers and some aromatics products to meet Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) requirements.

Government and industry officials are due to meet today to discuss making the BIS standards mandatory.

The discussions will cover applying the certification requirements to imports of polymers including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Other products that may have to meet the standards include phenol, acetone, toluene and styrene monomer (SM). India is a major importer of these chemicals from South Korea, southeast Asia and the Middle East to help meet strong demand growth of 5-6pc/yr, driven by consumption from derivatives sectors such as pharmaceuticals, solvents and specialty chemicals.

The BIS requirements would force foreign companies exporting to India to register with the BIS to ensure their imports meet agreed standards. "These companies would also need to undergo checks by the BIS, which would include visits to the respective plants," said a Singapore-based Indian trader.

These new bureaucratic steps would lengthen the time taken to register and import to the country.

The full impact of the regulation remains unclear and it could take at least a year to implement for polymers, according to traders, some of whom expressed surprise that the government was considering the move.

But a similar move last year in the caustic soda market had a major impact. The BIS notification was released on caustic soda on 4 April 2018, although customs enforcement only started in September last year.

The customs enforcement caused prices to fall sharply, as companies selling to India had to find a new home for product at short notice. It took about six months from the September 2018 notice for traders and producers in the caustic soda market to start receiving approvals for the BIS certification, with the first caustic soda shipments from Japan and China into India due to resume only in May this year.