(europeanplasticsnews) -- The Ukrainian government may impose anti-dumping duties on the imports of PVC from the US and the EU, due to pressure from to Karpatneftekhim, Ukraine’s only local manufacturer of PVC. Karpatneftekhim is owned by Russian oil giant Lukoil.
According to the Ukrainian media reports, several days ago Karpatneftekhim sent a petition to the Ukrainian State Inter-Ministerial Commission of International Trade, demanding an anti-dumping investigation into imports of PVC from the US.
Karpatneftekhim says PVC imported from the US is sold on the local market at a significantly lower price than in the US market. As a result, during the period from Q3 2011 to Q2 2012 imports of these products from grew by 93.1% and share of US producers on the Ukrainian market has increased by 2.3 times.
Karpatneftehim’s sales decreased 38.4% and its share in the market declined 26.4% during the same period.
The annual capacity of Karpatneftekhim is estimated to be about 300,000 tonnes per year, which is significantly higher than the volume of domestic consumption, which is in the range of of in tyhe on of han the volume of s 100,000-150,000 tonnes.
Karpatneftehim wants imports of PVC from the US to be taxed at a rate of 6.5% to make local production competitive.
The State Commission on International Trade has announced that it received an application from Karpatneftekhim and has already start an anti-dumping investigation. Some Ukrainian analysts have already criticized Karpatneftekhim’s stance.
According to a spokesperson in Eurotrubplast, one of the largest manufacturers of PVC pipes in the former Soviet space, the imposition of a duty will result in a significant increase of prices for final products and may lead to a decline of demand.