INEOS has welcomed the European Commission’s decision to launch an anti-dumping investigation into PVC imports from China, Taiwan, Mexico and South Korea — but is demanding a major overhaul of the EU’s trade-defence system.
The company says the investigation comes as PVC imports have doubled in just 12 months, intensifying pressure on Europe’s chemical industry at a critical time.
PVC is a strategic material used in essential sectors including water and sanitation, healthcare, construction, food packaging and defence.
INEOS said the wider surge in Chinese chemical imports highlights the scale of the challenge facing European manufacturers. In 2025, €34.1 billion of organic chemicals were imported from China. During the first six months of 2026 alone, chemical imports from China increased by 1.1 million tonnes, while the EU’s chemical trade balance deteriorated by 1.2 million tonnes.
China is now Europe’s largest source of chemical imports, according to INEOS.
The company is also warning of a growing carbon cost as European production is displaced by imports from China.
China’s chemical industry, including PVC production, relies heavily on coal-based energy and raw materials. INEOS says products made there can have a carbon footprint more than four times that of equivalent European production.
Closing efficient European plants and replacing their output with higher-carbon imports, the company argues, risks exporting both jobs and emissions.
INEOS said it is already working with other European producers through industry consortia to defend the EU chemicals sector. The company has filed, or is preparing to file, 20 major trade-defence complaints covering other polymers and chemicals with the European Commission — double the number since November 2025.
The company said the unprecedented wave of cases is necessary to protect its manufacturing sites, employees and long-term investments, as well as the thousands of customers, suppliers and contractors that rely on Europe’s chemical industry.
INEOS also pointed to the United States as an example of how tariffs and other trade measures can be deployed rapidly to protect domestic industry from unfair competition.
Europe’s system, it said, remains hampered by lengthy procedures, limited resources and rules that can leave manufacturers exposed for years before protective measures take effect.
INEOS is calling for greater resources for DG Trade, simpler case preparation, faster provisional measures and the use of “safeguard measures” to protect Europe’s chemicals and plastics industries.
In a recent letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: "China is overbuilding its entire chemical industry, which it fully recognises is a critical ingredient for its national security. This intentional excess capacity is being 'dumped' into our European marketplace at unsustainable prices.
"The result is an accelerating rate of closure of our chemical industry. Europe must be protected from unfair competition, preferably quicker than at 'snail's pace'. Europe needs to start giving the type of support to industry that our global competitors receive from their governments."
INEOS said the growing number of anti-dumping cases underlines the need for Europe to strengthen its trade-defence framework and enable strategic industries to respond more quickly to unfair global competition.
Steve Dossett, CEO of INEOS Inovyn, said: "Trade defence measures need to move at the speed of today's market distortions, not years after the damage has been done. Europe is becoming increasingly dependent on imported chemicals while its own industry struggles to compete. The Commission has taken an important first step and needs to complete its investigation quickly.”
,_Aditya_A__Shriram_(President).JPG)
