New Antidumping Duty Petitions on Acetone from Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and Spain

February 19, 2019 – On February 19, 2019, the Coalition for Acetone Fair Trade filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce (“DOC”) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) for the imposition of antidumping (“AD”) duties on U.S. imports of acetone from Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and Spain.  The petition identifies AdvanSix Inc., Altivia Petrochemicals, LLC, and Olin Corporation as members of the petitioning coalition.

Under U.S. law, a domestic industry can petition the government to initiate an AD investigation into the pricing of an imported product to determine whether it is sold in the United States at less than fair value (i.e., “dumped”).  Additional duties can be imposed if DOC determines that imported goods are dumped and if the ITC also determines that the domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of subject imports.

If the ITC and DOC make preliminary affirmative determinations, U.S. importers will be required to post cash deposits in the amount of the AD duty rates for all entries on or after the date DOC’s preliminary determination is published in the Federal Register.  The preliminary AD rates can change in the final DOC determination, especially if foreign producers and their governments participate fully in the investigations.

Scope

The products covered by these investigations include:

The merchandise covered by this petition is all grades of liquid or aqueous acetone. Acetone is also known under the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (“IUP AC”) name propan-2-one. In addition to the IUP AC name, acetone is also referred to as B-ketopropane (or “beta-ketopropane”), ketone propane, methyl ketone, dimethyl ketone, DMK, dimethyl carbonyl, propanone, 2-propanone, dimethyl formaldehyde, pyroacetic acid, pyroacetic ether, and pyroactic spirit. Acetone is an isomer of the chemical formula C₃H₆O, with a specific molecular formula of CH₃COCH₃ or (CH₃)₂CO.

The scope includes acetone that is combined or mixed with other products, including, but not limited to, benzene, diethyl ether, methanol, chloroform, and ethanol. For such combined products, only the acetone component is within the scope of these investigations. Acetone that has been combined with other products is included within the scope, regardless of whether the combining occurs in third countries.

Acetone that is otherwise subject to these investigations is not excluded when commingled with acetone from sources not subject to these investigations. Only the subject merchandise component of such commingled products is covered by the scope of these investigations.

The Chemical Abstracts Service (“CAS”) registry number for acetone is 67-64-1. 

Subject merchandise may be classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) subheadings 2914.11.1000 and 2914.11.5000.

Foreign Producers and Exporters of Subject Merchandise

Attachment 1 provides a list of foreign producers of the subject merchandise as identified by the Petitioner.

U.S. Importers of Subject Merchandise

Attachment 2 provides a list of U.S. importers of the subject merchandise as identified by the Petitioner.

Alleged Dumping Margins

Petitioner alleges the following dumping margins:

Belgium:  35.76% to 85.96%
Saudi Arabia:  40.08%
Singapore:  48.96% to 200.29%
South Africa:  12.83% to 410.22%
South Korea:  113.46% to 176.61%
Spain:   162.71%

Potential Trade Impact

The following provides the quantity and value of subject merchandise imported into the United States:

Estimated Schedule of Investigations

2/19/2019 – Petition filed
3/11/2019 – DOC initiation
3/12/2019 – ITC staff conference
4/5/2019 – ITC preliminary injury determination
7/29/2019 – DOC preliminary determination, if not postponed
9/17/2019 – DOC preliminary determination, if fully postponed
2/6/2020 – DOC final determinations, if both preliminary and final determinations are fully postponed
3/29/2020 – ITC final injury determination, if DOC’s determinations are fully postponed
4/12/2020 – AD orders published

If you have any questions about the petitions, please contact the experienced attorneys in HHR’s international trade group.