Antidumping final determination of triethanolamine from United States

Antidumping final determination of triethanolamine from United States

On 27 January 2022, the final determination of the anti-dumping investigation on imports of triethanolamine from the United States of America, regardless of the country of origin, was published in Official Gazette. In this post we summarize the most relevant aspects of the final determination.

Investigated product

A chemical product belonging to the category of ethanolamines that, combined with the properties of amines and alcohol, can create common reactions with both groups or others, such as acids, salts or soaps. It is known technically and commercially as triethanolamine or TEA.

Triethanolamine falls under tariff item 2922.15.01.

Antidumping measures

The Ministry of Economy determined the following dumping margins and duties on imports of triethanolamine as follows:

• $0.0767 dollars per kilogram for imports from The Dow Chemical Company and Union Carbide.
• $0.2044 dollars per kilogram for imports from Ineos.
• $0.2629 dollars per kilogram for imports from Indorama and other exporting companies.

Extraordinary Circumstances and the non-application of antidumping duties

The Ministry of Economy determined that the supply of ethylene oxide (input for the manufacture of triethanolamine) is not steady or constant. For this reason, the authority determined not to apply the antidumping measures until the supply of ethylene oxide is regularized or continuous in order not to affect TEA consumers. This argument was made by VTZ, and to a certain extent it is similar to the final antidumping determination in Texturized Polyester Yarn from China,

The Ministry of Economy justified its decision with article 9.1 of the Antidumping Agreement.

VTZ's successful anti-dumping defense

It should be noted that VTZ successfully represented Dow Chemical and Union Carbide, since the antidumping duty is not being applied thanks to our arguments.

As noted above, The Dow Chemical Company and Union Carbide also have the lowest dumping margin determined by the Ministry of Economy.