The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) made a preliminary judgment last week that unfairly traded imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from South Korea and four other countries are causing injury to U.S. producers.
In a statement released by PRNewswire on Wednesday, the ITC made the announcement citing five countries -- South Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan and Taiwan -- as culprits.
The "preliminary injury determination" means the U.S. government may take steps to impose antidumping duties on PET resin imports from the five countries.
The ITC is expected to submit its preliminary judgment on the case to the Department of Commerce on Nov. 20 and the department will launch an investigation into the case to decide on whether to impose antidumping duties.
Imports of PET resin from the five nations jumped by over 305 percent between 2014 and 2016 due to low product prices. As a result, U.S. producers suffered declines in sales and profits, the statement said.
PET resin is largely sold in bulk form as chips or pellets, which are heated and extruded or molded into plastic bottles, containers and packaging, it said.
South Korea's PET resin exports to the U.S. reached $60 million in the January-June period, far higher than $24 million for the whole of 2016, government data showed.
