On October 18, 2018, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) reached a negative injury determination in the antidumping (AD) investigations on imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from Brazil, Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan, and Taiwan.

The U.S. producers of PET resin– DAK Americas LLC, Indorama Ventures USA, Inc., and Nan Ya Plastics Corporation, America – expressed strong disappointment in the determination.  “The ITC’s vote does not reflect the experience of the U.S. PET resin industry over the past three years,” says Paul Rosenthal, of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, counsel to the domestic producers.

“On the contrary, the record in this case showed that U.S. producers suffered declining production, sales, and profitability as a result of surging imports from Brazil, Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan, and Taiwan.  In fact, the Commerce Department found significant dumping margins by PET resin producers in each country.  That dumping hurt the sales and profits of the domestic industry, contributing to one U.S. producer going out of business last year.  The domestic industry is also under threat of continued injury due to the significant idle capacity and export-orientation of the foreign PET resin producers.”

Once the ITC’s final determination is published in the Federal Register and the ITC issues its written opinion, the domestic producers will make a final decision whether to appeal the ITC’s determination with the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York.  The domestic industry’s appeal must be filed within 30 days of publication of the ITC’s determination.  The timing for an initial decision from the Court of International Trade may be anywhere from six months to approximately one year, depending on a number of factors.  The decision from the Court of International Trade may then be appealed by any party to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

A successful appeal by the domestic industry would send the injury determination back to the ITC for reexamination and reissuance, and could ultimately result in an affirmative determination.  As the U.S. Department of Commerce issued final affirmative dumping margins for each country, a revised affirmative injury determination by the ITC would impose cash deposit requirements on U.S. importers of PET resin from Brazil, Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan, and Taiwan.

Four major U.S. PET resin producers – DAK Americas LLC, Indorama Ventures USA, Inc., Nan Ya Plastics Corporation, America, and M&G Polymers USA, LLC – filed petitions with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) on September 26, 2017.  On October 24, 2017, M&G Polymers USA filed for bankruptcy and later put its U.S. assets up for sale.  On September 17, 2018, Commerce found significant levels of dumping by producers and exporters in all five countries: 29.68-275.89% for Brazil, 30.61-53.50% for Indonesia, 8.23-101.41% for Korea, 43.81-59.92% for Pakistan, and 5.16-45.00% for Taiwan.

The product that is the subject of these investigations is certain polyester terephthalate (PET) resin, which is a large-volume, thermoplastic polyester polymer resin, having an intrinsic viscosity (IV) of 0.70 or more, but not more than 0.88, deciliters per gram.  PET resin is primarily sold in bulk form as chips or pellets, which are heated and extruded or molded into plastic bottles, containers, and packaging.  The major end-uses for PET resin include beverage bottles, food containers, and packaging for household, cosmetics, automotive, and pharmaceutical products.     

The domestic industry is represented by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.