Washington DC, US – The US International Trade Commission is to begin an investigation into the dumping of MDI from China on the US market. This follows a petition from the Ad Hoc MDI Fair Trade Coalition asking for antidumping duties to be imposed on US MDI imports from China. It alleges dumping margins of 306% to 507%.
The coalition comprises BASF and Dow, both of whom manufacture MDI on the Gulf coast. BASF broke ground on the third phase of an expansion of its 600kT MDI plant in Geismar, Louisiana in 2023. Dow opened a new MDI distillation and prepolymers facility at its Freeport, Texas site later the same year.
The petition covers MDI in all physical forms, but not mixtures where the combined MDI component comprises less than 40% of the total weight, or partially reacted MDI when the isocyanate content is below 10% by weight. Only the MDI portion of a system is included in the scope of the petition. MDI from China that has been processed in a third country is included.
According to the petition, MDI is manufactured in China by BASF, Covestro, Shanghai Lianheng Isocyanate and Wanhua. It names Wanhua Chemical Ningbo, Wanhua Chemical (Singapore), Shandong Mingko Industry, Healthcare Co and Behai Xinli Trade I&E as exporters of the product to the US. It also identified 10 entities who imported Chinese MDI into the US in 2024.
Last year, the US imported about 229kT of MDI from China. This is currently subject to a 35% tariff, with an additional 10% being imposed at the start of February on top of the 25% introduced in May 2019. Very little MDI goes in the other direction, where it faces a 25% tariff plus the regular 6.5% import duty.
The investigation is slated to begin in early March. It will look at imports into the country during the second half of 2024.
