India open doors to Chinese and EU’s PTA, drops anti-dumping probe

India has dropped anti-dumping investigation against China and the European Union for import of purified terephthalic acid, thus opening up doors for non restricted import. Shipments of purified terephthalic acid from China to India have resumed following the revocation. It is learnt that about 25,000-30,000 ton of purified terephthalic acid has been booked from China for April heading towards India, an Indian trade source said in mid April.

Provisional anti-dumping duties on imports from China, the European Union, South Korea and Thailand were imposed by India in July 2014 following allegations of dumping of PTA.

Major PTA producers of China, Zhejiang Yisheng Petrochemical and Hengli Petrochemical have shipped some 15,000-20,000 ton to India for April, and export volumes are anticipated to be increased for May, reports said.

In 2013-14, top five exporters of purified terephthalic acid to India shipped 9.37 lakh ton, with South Korea alone accounting for two thirds of that volume. Thailand followed with another 20 per cent. Import from China was only 67,655 ton. The others were Indonesia (28,086 tons) and Taiwan (19,444 tons)

Since imports from China and the EU were less than 3% of total volume, the investigation against these countries was automatically terminated, a document published on 7 April by Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

Duties on Chinese companies prior to 7 April were US$62.82 a ton, while those on South Korean companies were ranging from US$23.61-78.28 a ton and US$45.43-62.55 a ton for Thai companies.