Imports from China, US and Saudi Arabia will see tariffs of 52–143%
The European Commission has introduced massive antidumping duties on imports of 1,4-butadiene (BDO), an important intermediate molecule in chemical manufacturing. The provisional duties are 106–114% on all imports originating in China, 52% for all imports from Saudi Arabia and 136–143% on all imports originating in the US.
‘This is a step change in the EU ramping up its defenses against dumping,’ says Richard Carter, an independent consultant to the chemical industry and former BASF manager. ‘My hope is that this is the start of a more aggressive stance.’
The commission’s 70-page report sets out the evidence and decision to impose duties. BDO is used in various coatings, polymers and solvents. Four companies generate BDO in the EU directly, employing around 500 staff in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. The volume of imports from the three named countries increased from around 49,000 tonnes in 2018 to around 89,000 tonnes in 2024, an increase of 82%. Ineos (one of the four EU producers) has filed a raft of antidumping cases with the European Commission, including for BDO.
The problem, says Carter, is the buildup of massive overcapacity in China, allowing Chinese producers set prices that others must follow. Chinese capacity is now nine times larger than the EU, he adds. ‘This is part of an onslaught to dominate western chemical markets, in my view,’ says Carter. ‘Trade flows show that European producers have almost switched off their plants and are bringing in BDO from their own facilities in the US.’
Ineos has also filed complaints for polyvinyl chloride, monoethylene gylcol, terephthalic acid, butyl acetate and polyolefins. In a past statement, it complained about the staffing levels and the response times in the commission’s antidumping investigations.
Anti-dumping investigations typically run for 12 to 15 months. ‘It will take 3-6 months for the provisional duties to be applied, then another 6-9 months for the final duties to be applied, if passed,’ says Mohamed Chilmeran, petrochemical analyst at Wood Mackenzie.
Parties told the Commission that EU industry was simply not competitive enough due to its high costs, but this was rejected. The industry was profitable in 2021 and 2022. ‘The root cause of the injury was increasing volumes of dumped imports from the countries concerned,’ said the report, ‘which depressed BDO prices to levels which did not permit the Union industry to recover its costs and increased the cost of production per unit of the Union from lower sales and production levels.’
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