The European Commission has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from China, defending EU companies and more than 1,500 jobs. The EU market of PET has a value of over €5.5 billion.

The Commission confirmed the provisional duties that were imposed on 27 November 2023, ranging from 6.6% to 24.2% depending on the exporting producer. These duties will be in place for a period of five years.

The duties come as the result of an EU investigation which found that dumping of Chinese imports presented a threat of a clearly foreseeable and imminent injury to EU industry. It showed that the influx of dumped Chinese imports at artificially low prices was undercutting EU industry’s prices, forcing the EU industry to reduce its prices to such a low level that they were selling their products at a loss.

PET is used predominantly to produce plastic bottles and is fully recyclable. The impact of the duties on EU consumers of PET was found to be minimal.