China set to delay final acetone ADDs to April

28 February 2008 12:58  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--China is expected to announce final anti-dumping duties on acetone imports from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan in April, traders said on Thursday.

The Commerce Ministry, which kicked off the investigation targeting Asian acetone imports in March 2007, typically takes up to one year from the start of any anti-dumping probe to announce the final duties, they added.

“We heard there could be a slight delay,” one trader told ICIS news on the sidelines of the 5th Phenol/Acetone and Derivatives Markets conference in Singapore.

Traders said they did not know the reasons for the delay. Officials from the ministry were also not available for comment.

The authorities had announced preliminary duties ranging from 5% to 54.1% for South Korean producers on Asian acetone cargoes in late November last year after assessing that the imports had damaged the local industry.

The bulk of the duties were in the range of 5% to 11.9%, levied on cargoes from Japan's Mitsui Chemicals, Asia’s largest phenol-acetone producer.

“We heard from the market that the anti-dumping duties for Mitsui Chemicals and Kumho could come down,” a Shanghai-based trader said in Mandarin.

A Mitsui company official said it had lodged an appeal to Beijing last year after the announcement of the preliminary duties and was waiting for the final verdict.

For more on phenol and acetone visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Peh Soo Hwee
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