Beijing [China], December 29 : China has escalated trade tensions with the United States by extending tariffs on a key chemical solvent, imposing sanctions on seven US companies citing 'security reasons', and has threatened to halt purchases of American semiconductors, according to a report by Asia Times.
On Friday, China's Ministry of Commerce (MoC) announced that anti-dumping duties on n-butanol imports from the US, Taiwan, and Malaysia will remain in place for another five years, effective from today.
The decision follows a sunset review initiated in December 2023 at the request of China's domestic n-butanol producers. The review assessed whether ending the duties would result in renewed dumping practices and harm to the domestic industry.
According to the ministry's findings, removing the anti-dumping duties would likely lead to a resumption or continuation of dumping practices and subsequent harm to China's domestic n-butanol industry. The extended duties will maintain the same rates as those imposed in 2018, Xinhua reported.
Earlier in 2018, in accordance with the Anti-dumping Regulations of China, the country's Ministry of Commerce had decided to initiate an anti-dumping investigation on imports of n-butanol originating in Taiwan, Malaysia and the United States.
The Ministry of Commerce had said, "The Investigation Authority investigated whether there was dumping and the extent of dumping of the products under investigation, whether the products under investigation caused damage to the industries in mainland China and the extent of the damage, and the causal relationship between dumping and damage."
It added, "Based on the investigation results and Article 24 of the Anti-dumping Regulations, on September 3, 2018, the Investigation Authority issued a preliminary ruling announcement, preliminarily determining that there was dumping of imported n-butanol originating from Taiwan, Malaysia and the United States, that the n-butanol industry in mainland China was substantially damaged, and that there was a causal relationship between dumping and substantial damage. The Investigation Authority decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures in the form of a deposit from September 4, 2018."
Notably, n-Butanol is an important organic chemical raw material, mainly used to produce downstream products such as butyl acrylate, butyl acetate, dibutyl phthalate, butylamine, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, etc., and widely used in coatings, adhesives, textile auxiliaries, plasticizers and other fields.
n-Butanol is also an extractant for oils, biochemical drugs and spices, an additive for alkyd resin coatings, and is also used to manufacture surfactants. At the same time, n-Butanol is also an excellent organic solvent.