Anti-dumping on China-made PFY escalates amid grim international trade

The International trade has been complex and grim in 2021, with trade barriers and protection emerging one after another. Anti-dumping incidents against China have continued, and the polyester market has also been deeply troubled. Turkey, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, India, Mexico and other major countries have launched anti-dumping investigations or made rulings against China.

The following parts mainly summarize the anti-dumping investigation results of various countries on China's PFY since this year and the relevant dumping tax rates. Exports of PFY to these nations and specific proportion are also listed.

1. Turkey

On January 9, 2021, the Ministry of Trade of Turkey issued notice No. 2021/1, which continued to impose anti-dumping duties on the above-mentioned products from China, India and Malaysia for a period of five years. The duties are US$0.25-0.30/kg for yarns from China, US$0.15-0.17/kg for India and US$0.15-0.17 /kg for Malaysia. The Turkish tax number of the product involved is 5402.47.

On February 3, 2021, the Ministry of Trade of Turkey issued Announcement No. 2021/6, maintaining the anti-dumping duties on products involved from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. China is US$268-351/ton, Indonesia is US$48-240/ton, Malaysia is US$276/ton, Thailand is 6.88-37.69% of CIF price, and Vietnam is at 34.81-72.56% of CIF price. The Turkish tax number of the product involved is 5402.33, which will valid for 5 years.

At present, China's POY, FDY, DTY and textured yarns are all within the scope of Turkey's anti-dumping, but in recent years, China's export of PFY to Turkey is declining, and the impact of subsequent anti-dumping is expected to gradually weaken.

2. South Korea

On January 27, 2021, South Korea launched an anti-dumping investigation against Polyester Fully Drawn Yarn (FDY), covering commodities under tax no. 5402.47.9000. On June 17, the Trade Commission of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources of South Korea made an anti-dumping preliminary decision on the fully drawn polyester filament originating in China, and ruled that the sales price of the fully drawn polyester filament imported from China was lower than the normal price.

Trade Committee of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources of South Korea held its 418th meeting on November 18, proposing to impose an anti-dumping tax of 3.95% ~10.91% on Polyester Fully Drawn Yarn made in China for 3-5 years. The official tax announcement shall be announced after the decision of the Ministry of Finance of South Korea.

3. India

On June 30, 2021, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India issued a notice saying that in response to an application submitted by Indian enterprise Indorama India Private Limited, the first anti-dumping sunset review investigation was launched against elastic yarns originating in or imported from China, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan of China. The products involved were elastic filament yarns of 150 denier or less, but did not include color yarns and beam elastic yarns. The dumping investigation period in this case is from January to December 2020, and the damage investigation period is from 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, 2019 to 2020 and the dumping investigation period. The case concerned products under Indian Customs Code 54041100 and some products under 5402, 5403 and 5404.

India's dumping review has not yet announced the results. The previous final ruling was to impose anti-dumping duties of US$0.48-3.34/kg, US$0-1.90/kg, US$0.36-2.16/kg and US$2.40/kg on the products involved in the case in China, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan of China respectively.

4. Brazil

On September 30, 2021, Brazil's foreign trade Secretariat issued notice No. 64 of 2021 in the Official Gazette of the Federation, saying that the anti-dumping preliminary ruling was made on polyester fiber yarns (except sewing threads) not for retail sale originating in China and India, including synthetic fiber monofilaments with a fineness of less than 67 decitex. It was preliminarily ruled that the products involved in the above-mentioned countries were dumped and that dumping caused damage to Brazil's domestic industry, but no interim measures were taken for the time being. The tax numbers of the products involved are 5402.33.10, 5402.33.20 and 5402.33.90.

Brazil has a large number of traders, and the implementation of temporary anti-dumping duties will have a great impact. At present, it is still in the process of negotiation. Therefore, the temporary anti-dumping measures will not be implemented for the time being, and the specific results will be awaited.

5. Mexico

On September 29, 2021, Mexico's Anti-dumping Investigation Agency (UPCI) issued a notice in the Official Gazette, deciding to impose an anti-dumping duty of US $0.532 per kilogram on all enterprises imported into China and India. In view of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Mexico's textile industry, the Investigation Agency decided to delay the implementation of anti-dumping measures for one year and will impose an anti-dumping duty on the products involved from September 29, 2022. The TIGIE tax number of the product involved is 5402.33.01.

6. Vietnam

On October 13, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam issued resolution No. 2302/QD-BCT, ruling that anti-dumping duties should be formally imposed on the products involved in the case of the above-mentioned countries. Among them, the tax rate on the products involved in the case of China is 3.36% ~17.45%, India is 54.90%, Indonesia is 21.94% and Malaysia is 21.45%. This case concerns products under Vietnamese tax codes 5402.33.00, 5402.46.00 and 5402.47.00.

From January to October 2021, China exported nearly 1.1 million tons of PFY to the above-mentioned six countries, accounting for 44.3% of the total export volume. Among them, the anti-dumping volume will include 179,000 tons in Turkey, 29,000 tons in South Korea, not clear for India, 126,000 tons in Brazil, 36,000 tons in Mexico and 199,000 tons in Vietnam. Excluding India, a total of 570,000 tons accounted for 23% of total exports and will take up a higher proportion including India.

However, although the impact is very great from the data, in fact, many anti-dumping activities have been implemented in previous years, and will maintain later, so the impact on the market is not obvious. In addition, as the largest producer of PFY, China needs to be vigilant against anti-dumping events in the future, but it is not necessary to be overly pessimistic.