UpdateIndia finalises five-year anti-dumping duties for PP imports

23 November 2010 09:59  [Source: ICIS news]

(recasts lead, adds market reaction in paragraphs 5-12) 

By Prema Viswanathan and Nurluqman Suratman

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--India has finalised the anti-dumping (ADD) duties for polypropylene (PP) imports from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Singapore, though the move will not significantly impact the domestic market because players had already factored it in, traders said on Tuesday.

The ADD tariff would be levied for a period of five years from the start of the provisional anti-dumping duty imposed by the government on 30 July last year, stated a notification by India's Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue.

The duties range from $28.49-323.50/tonne (€20.79-236.15/tonne), which are much lower than the provisional tariffs announced in July last year, according to the notification. (please see table below)

Among the producers affected by the ADD duties on PP products are Singapore-based ExxonMobil Chemical Asia Pacific, Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company and Saudi Polyolefins Company.

Some market players said the announcement would have no impact on buying sentiment.

“The market has already factored in the ADD ever since provisional duties were imposed last July, and it was only a question of time before it would be finalised,” said a source close to an Indian PP producer.

The move would have minimal impact on the market, said a trader, pointing out that a large segment of PP importers in India were exporters of finished goods, who were exempt from ADD.

“Of course, the documentation that is needed for securing the exemption is a bit tedious, but that apart, these end users won’t be affected by the measures,” he added.

However, some players had mixed reaction with one converter expecting domestic PP prices to move higher in the wake of the announcement.

“The move will reduce competition in the Indian PP market and leave buyers at the mercy of domestic producers,” said another Mumbai-based PP converter.

Pakistani traders, meanwhile, said that ADD duties could have a dampening effect on their local market.

“We expect the Middle East suppliers who are affected by the Indian ADD to divert more cargoes to the Pakistani market, creating an oversupply situation,” said a Karachi-based trader.

An Indian government gazette earlier on 23 August this year said that it found PP imports from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Singapore to have been “below their associated normal values”, according to a government document obtained by ICIS.

“The domestic industry had suffered material injury in respect of the subject goods and the material injury had been caused by the dumped imports of the subject goods from the subject countries,” it added.

The ADD tariff would be applicable to homo-polymers of propylene and copolymers of propylene and ethylene.

Serial No	Country of Origin	Country of Exports	Producer	Exporter	Duty Amount ($) / tonne
1	Oman	Oman	Oman Polypropylene LLC	Oman Polypropylene LLC	67.68
2	Oman	Oman	Any combination other than as specified at serial number 1		241.82
3	Oman	Any other than Oman	Any	Any	241.82
4	Any country other than countries attracting ADD	Oman	Any	Any	241.82
5	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Advanced Polypropylene Co	Vinmar International Ltd, USA	166.20
90 6	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Polyolefins Co	National Petrochemical Industrialization Marketing Company	89.23
7	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Polyolefins Co	Basell International Trading FZE	51.16
8	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Saudi European Petrochemical Company	Saudi Basic Industries Corporation	171.97
9	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company	Saudi Basic Industries Corporation	87.86
10	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company	Exxon Mobil Chemical Asia Pacific	177.56
11	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Any other combination other than as specified at serial numbers 5 to 10		322.57
12	Saudi Arabia	Any other than Saudi Arabia	Any	Any	322.57
13	Any country other than countries attracting ADD	Saudi Arabia	Any	Any	322.57
14	Singapore	Singapore	The Polyolefin Company (Singapore)	Sumitomo Corporation Asia	121.28
15	Singapore	Singapore	The Polyolefin Company (Singapore)	Toyota Tsusho (Singapore)	295.09
16	Singapore	Singapore	The Polyolefin Company (Singapore)	Marubeni Chemical Asia Pacific	Nil
17	Singapore	Singapore	The Polyolefin Company (Singapore)	Itochu Plastics	Nil
18	Singapore	Singapore	The Polyolefin Company (Singapore)	Sumitomo Corporation Asia	28.49
19	Singapore	Singapore	Exxon Mobil Chemical Asia Pacific	Exxon Mobil Chemical Asia Pacific	38.77
20	Singapore	Singapore	Exxon Mobil Chemical Asia Pacific	Mitsubishi Chemical Thailand	Nil
21	Singapore	Singapore	Any combination other than as specified at serial numbers 14 to 20		323.50
22	Singapore	Any other than Singapore	Any	Any	323.50
23	Any country other than countries attracting ADD	Singapore	Any	Any	323.50

With additional reporting by Nurluqman Suratman

($1 = €0.73)

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By: Prema Viswanathan
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