EC excludes Malaysian plastic bags from anti-dumping duties

03-Oct-06

The European Commission (EC) has decided to exclude Malaysian-made plastic sacks and bags from any anti-dumping duties, but will impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 4.8% to 28.8% for imports of certain polyethylene sacks and bags from China and 5.1% to 14.3% for imports from Thailand. These anti-dumping duties will be imposed for a period of five years and will take effect after being published in the Official Journal of the EC by Sept 30, 2006. Total import of plastic sacks and bags from China, Malaysia and Thailand, amounting to 430,000 tons in 2004, accounted for 80% of all the plastic sacks and bags imported into the EC market This decision has been arrived at after a 15-month investigation on exporters from China, Malaysia and Thailand initiated by the EC in late June 2005. The probe was to investigate into possible dumping and subsidisation of imports of plastic sacks and bags from China, Malaysia and Thailand following a complaint lodged by some producers of plastic sacks and bags from the European community who claimed to have been adversely affected. Increased imports from the three countries with alleged decreasing dumping prices over the period from 2000 to 2004 have caused the European producers to face loss of sales and profits which resulted in some closures and down-sizing of factories. The complainants had requested that the EC impose anti-dumping duties as well as anti-subsidy duties, arising from alleged state aid in the form of subsidies, on producers from the three countries.