Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the initiation of new antidumping duty (AD) investigations to determine whether acetone from Belgium, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain is being sold in the United States at less than fair value.
These antidumping investigations were initiated based on petitions filed by the Coalition for Acetone Fair Trade on Feb. 19, 2019. The members of the Coalition for Acetone Fair Trade are AdvanSix Inc. (Parsippany, NJ), Altivia Petrochemicals, LLC (Haverhill, OH), and Olin Corporation (Clayton, MO).
The alleged dumping margins are: * Belgium – 43.41 to 73.69 percent * Korea – 112.72 to 174.66 percent * Saudi Arabia – 36.88 percent * Singapore – 14.52 to 131.75 percent * South Africa – 214.09 to 414.92 percent * Spain – 102.97 and 171.81 percent If Commerce makes affirmative findings in these investigations, and if the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determines that dumped and/or unfairly subsidized U.S. imports of acetone from Belgium, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain, are causing injury to the U.S. industry, Commerce will impose duties on those imports in the amount of dumping found to exist.
In 2017, imports of acetone from Belgium, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain were valued at an estimated $31.4 million, $37.0 million, $3.6 million, $2.7 million, $17.3 million, and $7.3 million, respectively.
Click HERE for a fact sheet on these initiations.
Next Steps: During Commerce’s investigations into whether acetone from Belgium, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain is being dumped, the ITC will conduct its own investigations into whether the U.S. industry and its workforce are being harmed by such imports. The ITC will make its preliminary determinations on or before April 5, 2019. If the ITC preliminarily determines that there is injury or threat of injury, then Commerce’s investigations will continue, with the preliminary determinations scheduled for July 29, 2019, unless this deadline is extended.
If Commerce preliminarily determines that dumping is occurring, then it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to start collecting cash deposits from all U.S. companies importing acetone from Belgium, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and Spain.
Final determinations by Commerce in these cases are scheduled for Oct. 15, 2019, but this date may be extended. If Commerce finds that products are not being dumped, or the ITC finds in its final determinations there is no harm to the U.S. industry, then the investigations will be terminated and no duties will be applied.
The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 149 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is a 263 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.
Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 471 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade law and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.
Foreign companies that price their products in the U.S. market below the cost of production or below prices in their home markets are subject to antidumping duties. Companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments, such as grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks, or production inputs, are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
