EU and India Advance Anti-Dumping Actions on Chemical Imports

Regulators in Europe and Asia are ratcheting up trade defenses in the chemicals sector. The European Commission has issued a provisional anti-dumping ruling imposing duties on barium carbonate imports from China and India. Effective in August, the EU measure aims to counter unfairly low-priced barium carbonate that was found to be injuring European producers. The provisional tariffs, which can be as high as 83.9% according to trade sources, will remain in place pending a final determination later this year.

Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced a final anti-dumping determination on imports of liquid epoxy resin originating from China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Taiwan. The investigation, which concluded this month, found that these imports were undercutting local resin prices. India is expected to impose definitive anti-dumping duties (following earlier provisional duties) to protect its domestic epoxy resin industry. These concurrent actions by the EU and India highlight a trend of heightened trade barriers in response to excess global capacity and cheap exports in the chemical market.