The European Commission has dropped anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese polyethylene terephthalate, as of today.
"The expiry review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of certain polyethylene terephthalate originating in the People's Republic of China is hereby terminated. The decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication," the European Commission said in its decision published Tuesday.
This meant the removal of duties took effect from today.
The decision followed after a review requested to extend the measures was withdrawn, an EC official explained earlier in December.
"The industry association withdrew the request for review of duties," the EC said. Previously, it had said the duties were scheduled to stop by mid-February at the latest.
Before the decision took effect, the EC had anti-dumping duties of up to 22.9% on imports of Chinese PET.
The development followed a request for a review of the impending expiry of the anti-dumping measures filed by the Committee of Polyethylene Terephthalate Manufacturers in Europe (CPME) on June 29, 2015. The EU had previously announced the impending expiry of the measures in a notice dated March 5, 2015.
It remains unclear what motivated the CPME to withdraw its request. The industry body refused to comment on the matter.
Eurostat data showed that imports of PET from China between January and November 2016 stood at 17,381 mt, down more than 22% year on year.
That volume was small in comparison with the EU's total PET imports of 833,979 mt in the same period.
