ITC Hears Arguments Over Whether to Revoke AD/CVD Orders on PET Resin
Producers of goods that use polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin told the International Trade Commission during a Jan. 27 sunset review that the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on PET resin from Canada, China, India and Oman should be revoked in light of the domestic industry running at 100% capacity and current supply chain snarls. Domestic PET resin producers disagreed, saying a revocation of the duties would harm the industry because cheap Chinese and Indian imports would flood the market.
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However, plenty of evidence suggests this may not be the case, said a lawyer affiliated with PET resin consumers. When Chinese exports were at their peak -- a time before the AD/CVD orders -- the amount of Chinese PET resin represented a single-digit percentage of the U.S. market, the lawyer said. PET resin users told the ITC that the rise in U.S. producers' operating margins should blanche the manufacturers' concerns over revoking the orders.
PET resin is a food-grade resin and a byproduct of petroleum refining. The widely used input is found in a variety of different plastic products, used by over 70% of the bottled water industry and currently in short supply. Storms along the Gulf Coast -- the primary location of U.S. producers' PET resin plants -- along with COVID-19 factory delays and the ongoing supply chain crisis have kneecapped the industry. Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association, speaking at a Feb. 3 media briefing on the ITC's PET resin sunset review, said his coalition has products sitting on ships, exacerbating the supply crunch.
The IBWA has joined in the effort to get the ITC to rescind the AD/CVD orders, leading to the Jan. 27 hearing at the commission over the sunset review. A portion of the hearing revolved around a PET resin plant under construction in Corpus Christi, Texas. The unfinished plant was started in 2011. The PET resin consumers said at the review that no meaningful progress has been made since 2018. The U.S. industry said the plant will imminently come online and any imports would jeopardize its feasibility. The lawyer affiliated with the PET consumers disagreed, saying the plant won't be online until at least 2025, if at all.
Counsel for a leading U.S. PET resin producer did not respond to a request for comment.