Recently, a Chinese additive industry giant announced plans to close some projects in China and move to Thailand to build a new plant, which immediately caused hot discussion in the industry.
Zhejiang Wansheng, a well-known phosphorous flame retardant manufacturer in China, announced in December that it intends to invest about 216 million yuan to build an annual output of 32,000 tons of phosphate ester flame retardant production base in Thailand, and to postpone and terminate some projects with an annual output of 200,000 tons of functional new material integrated production in China.
Wansheng shares said that from the first half of 2022, due to the impact of geopolitical conflicts, inflation in Europe and the United States, and the expansion of production capacity in the domestic market, the supply and demand pattern of functional flame retardants has changed greatly, and the supply of products exceeds demand, resulting in fierce price competition. In addition, since the beginning of this year, some alkyl phosphate ester flame retardant products in China have been imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties by Europe and the United States, which has brought additional challenges to the company.
Zhejiang Wansheng Co., LTD
Since 2024, the European Union, the United States, Mexico, South Korea and other economies have filed anti-dumping cases against China. The chemicals involved are styrene, petroleum resin, epoxy resin, PET, titanium dioxide and so on.
01 European Union
1, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin anti-dumping investigation
On December 19, the European Commission issued a notice that at the request of EU enterprises, it launched an anti-dumping investigation on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resins originating in South Korea and Taiwan.
2, epoxy resin anti-dumping investigation
On July 1, the European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation on epoxy resins originating in China, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.
3, polyester bottle sheet anti-dumping final ruling
In March, the European Commission made a final anti-dumping ruling on polyester bottle sheets originating in China, imposing anti-dumping duties of 6.6%-24.2% on related products.
02 South Korea
1, up to 18%, petroleum resin provisional anti-dumping duty
On December 19, South Korea decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties of up to 18.52 percent on imports of petroleum resins originating in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
2, up to nearly 8%, China PET resin anti-dumping final ruling
On October 17, the Korea Trade Commission made a final anti-dumping ruling on PET resin originating in China, proposing to impose anti-dumping duties on the products involved for a period of five years, with tax rates of 7.00% and 7.98%.
03 Saudi Arabia
1, up to 51%, polyvinyl chloride coated textiles anti-dumping duty ruling
On December 16, the General Directorate of Foreign Trade of Saudi Arabia imposed final anti-dumping measures on polyvinyl chloride coated textiles or fabric products from China and South Korea. Tax rates range from 25.56% to 51%.
04 Indonesia
1. Anti-dumping investigation of homogeneous polypropylene
On December 4, Indonesia's Anti-dumping Committee (KADI) launched an investigation into "anti-dumping practices" involving homopyramene (Homopyramene) from eight countries, including China.
05 United States
1, up to 269%, alkyl phosphate initial anti-dumping ruling
On November 26, the US Department of Commerce announced a preliminary anti-dumping ruling on alkyl phosphate esters imported from China, and the preliminary ruling was that the dumping rate of Chinese producers/exporters was 164.29% to 269.60%. The final anti-dumping ruling in this case is expected to be made on 17 April 2025.
2, epoxy resin anti-dumping investigation
On November 13, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling that there were less than fair value sales of epoxy resins imported from China.
06 Mexico
1, up to 63%, China PET resin anti-dumping preliminary cut
On August 9, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Mexico made a preliminary anti-dumping ruling on PET resin originating in China and imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty of 34%-63% on the products involved.
07 Why do chemicals frequently encounter anti-dumping?
Taking epoxy resin as an example, data show that in the first half of 2024, China's cumulative export volume of epoxy resin reached 125,600 tons, an increase of 37.68% over the same period last year. In addition, according to incomplete statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, since the beginning of 2024, China has responded to 27 anti-dumping investigation cases of chemical products in overseas markets, higher than in previous years.
Domestic market overcapacity, oversupply: In recent years, China's chemical industry capacity continued to expand, especially in titanium dioxide, TDI, epoxy resin and other fields, production capacity has jumped to the forefront of the world, but at the same time, it is also facing serious overcapacity problems. As the domestic market demand can not fully absorb these excess capacity, petrochemical companies have to increase export efforts, resulting in a sharp increase in the export volume of some chemical products.
However, the road to overseas exports has not been smooth. Due to the cost and price advantages of some chemical products compared with overseas regions, the rapid growth of export volume has impacted the local industry. Therefore, some countries have taken measures such as increasing certification requirements, raising technical barriers, and adjusting tariffs, such as launching anti-dumping and countervailing investigations, to restrict the import of Chinese chemical products.
Global chemical market changes: The chemical industry in some overseas countries and regions is facing problems such as weak demand and rising costs. In this case, chemical companies in these countries and regions may seek protection from the government.
08 What is the impact of anti-dumping investigation on Chinese chemical enterprises?
When the global economy is uncertain, the rise of international trade protectionism is obvious. With the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States next year, the uncertainty of international trade has further increased, and the risk of trade friction and anti-dumping investigations has also increased.
The most direct impact of anti-dumping duties on Chinese chemical enterprises is to increase export costs, which may lead to a reduction in profits. To circumvent this restriction, Chinese chemical companies like Zhejiang Wansheng are likely to accelerate their globalization, choosing to build factories overseas and export to other countries. However, the construction of overseas factories may also have a certain impact on the production of local factories, such as the production scale of local factories may be reduced accordingly, and resource allocation adjustment.
On the other hand, trade barriers are both risks and opportunities, the imposition of anti-dumping duties may prompt China's chemical industry to speed up the transformation and upgrading, increase the research and development of high-tech products, in order to improve product quality and market competitiveness.
These anti-dumping measures have affected the export business of Chinese chemical enterprises to a certain extent, and enterprises need to pay close attention to the progress of relevant investigations and take corresponding countermeasures.