China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has said that it will start an anti-dumping investigation into imported ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) products from the US, South Korea and the European Union, following a request from major petrochemical producers..
The investigation should be concluded by June 19, 2020 but could be extended to December 19, 2020, according to the MOC.
The EPDM is widely used as feedstock to make automotive parts, wires, cables and other industrial products.
The measures has been brought about at the request of Jilin Petrochemical, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), and Shanghai Sinopec Mitsui Elastomers Co. Ltd, the statement said. The companies are top producers of EPDM.
In 2018, the US sold 105,797 tonnes of EPDM to China, while imports from South Korea were 53,413 tonnes. That same year the European Union exported 25,368 tonnes of the EPDM to China.
Total shipments from the three countries and region account for almost 80% of China’s overall EPDM imports, according to a document provided by Jilin and Sinopec Mitsui.
The companies also said that export prices of EPDM from the US, South Korea and European Union were below the prices of the product in their domestic markets, and the dumping into China had caused substantial damage to the companies.