Urethane Blog
Trade Action on Epoxy Resin
April 18, 2024
Olin Among U.S. Epoxy Resin Producers Filing Trade Cases Against Five Countries
News provided by Olin Corporation
Apr 03, 2024, 16:05 ET
CLAYTON, Mo., April 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Olin Corporation (NYSE: OLN) today announced the filing of antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against five countries related to certain epoxy resins, as part of the U.S. Epoxy Resin Producers Ad Hoc Coalition. The petitions charge that unfairly traded imports of certain epoxy resins from China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand are causing material injury to the domestic epoxy resin industry. The petitions further charge that significant subsidies have been provided to the foreign producers by the governments of China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan. The U.S. producers in the Coalition, including Olin, produce epoxy resins, an essential component for which there are no practical substitutes, for various customer applications, including critical U.S. industries such as Aerospace, Automotive, Defense, Electrical Transmission, Semiconductors, and Wind Energy. Having domestically produced epoxy resins is vital to ensuring that the U.S. manufacturing industry is capable of meeting domestic preference requirements contained in important U.S. legislation like The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act. The availability of domestic epoxy production is also important to ensure U.S. industry has supply chain resiliency.
“We have been facing a significant volume of what we believe are unfairly dumped and subsidized imports of epoxy resin into this country,” said Florian Kohl, President, Olin Epoxy. “These unfairly traded imports have seriously impacted pricing in the U.S. market, which has resulted in a significant negative effect on our production, sales, and earnings. Without relief under U.S. law, unfairly traded imports will undermine the sustainability of U.S. producers and the welfare of their workers and local communities.”
The petitions were filed today with the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce Department”) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (“USITC”). The five countries covered by the antidumping petitions and the dumping margins alleged by the domestic industry are as follows:
| COUNTRY | DUMPING MARGINS ALLEGED |
| China | 264.87% – 351.97% |
| India | 11.43% – 17.50% |
| South Korea | 30.01% – 69.42% |
| Taiwan | 87.19% – 136.02% |
| Thailand | 163.94% – 205.63% |
The petitions also allege that the foreign producers benefit from numerous countervailable subsidies. The petitions were filed in response to large volumes of low-priced imports of epoxy resins from the subject countries over the past three years that have injured the domestic epoxy resin producers.
The petitions allege that producers in the subject countries have injured the U.S. epoxy resin producers by selling their products at unfairly low prices that significantly undercut the prices of U.S. producers. As a result, imports of epoxy resins have captured an increasing share of the U.S. market at the direct expense of the U.S. industry. The price declines that U.S. producers have suffered are likely to continue if duties are not imposed to level the playing field.
Antidumping duties are intended to offset the amount by which a product is sold at less than fair value, or “dumped,” in the United States. The margin of dumping is calculated by the Commerce Department. Estimated duties in the amount of the dumping are collected from importers at the time of importation. Countervailing duties are intended to offset unfair subsidies that are provided by foreign governments and benefit the production of a particular good. The USITC, an independent agency, will determine whether the domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of the unfairly traded imports.
OLIN COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Olin Corporation is a leading vertically integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products and a leading U.S. manufacturer of ammunition. The chemical products produced include chlorine, caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach, hydrogen, and hydrochloric acid. Winchester’s principal manufacturing facilities produce and distribute sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and components, industrial cartridges, and clay targets.
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