Türkiye Provisional Safeguard Duty on PET Resin Imports (Karar No. 10806 / Tebliğ No. 2026/1)

Mechanism

Türkiye's Ministry of Trade opened a safeguard investigation into PET resin imports and, pending its conclusion, imposed a provisional measure under Presidential Decision No. 10806 (published together with Tebliğ No. 2026/1 in the same 5th-mükerrer gazette supplement as the broader 2026 import-regime package). The provisional duty — USD 100 per tonne on top of the standard customs tariff — targets the GTİP 3907.61.00.00.00 line (PET resin with intrinsic viscosity of 78 ml/g or higher, the grade used in bottle-grade and packaging-film production). It runs for a maximum of 200 days, the WTO-permitted ceiling for provisional safeguards, while Türkiye's investigators complete the injury determination that will decide whether a definitive (and potentially longer-duration or higher-rate) measure follows.

The accompanying Tebliğ operationalises a developing-country exemption mechanism required under WTO Safeguards Agreement Article 9.1: origins whose 2024 export volume to Türkiye falls under the de-minimis thresholds are granted duty-free tariff quotas (~3,693 t per eligible country, ~11,079 t in aggregate, roughly 3% and 9% of 2024 import volume respectively) administered on a first-come, first-served electronic basis through the Ministry's "İthalat İşlemleri" portal. Countries whose 2024 volumes exceed the threshold — the large-volume suppliers, expected to include China and South Korea — receive no quota exemption and pay the $100/tonne surcharge from the first tonne.

Downstream implications

• Raises landed cost for PET resin importers supplying Turkish bottling,

packaging-film and textile-fibre (polyester) converters — a cost that will either compress converter margins or pass through to beverage, food-packaging and apparel-textile input costs domestically.

• Structurally favours Türkiye's domestic PET resin producers (the

measure is a classic import-competing-industry safeguard); watch for a parallel domestic-capacity investment or utilisation announcement in 1H2026 as the definitive-measure decision approaches.

• The developing-country tariff-quota carve-out creates a trade-diversion

incentive: exporters near the de-minimis ceiling have reason to keep reported volumes under the 3%/9% thresholds to preserve duty-free access, which may show up as unusual origin-mix shifts in 2026 Turkish import statistics.

• Sets a precedent alongside Türkiye's parallel 2026/1–2026/20 import-

surveillance tebliğ series (magnesium plates, kraft paper, filter machinery, lithium batteries, etc., all gazetted the same window) for a broader tightening of Turkish trade-defense instruments entering 2026.

Open questions

• Whether the underlying safeguard investigation concludes with a

definitive measure (and at what rate/duration) before the 200-day provisional window lapses in mid-2026.

• Exact 2024 import-volume shares by origin country, which determine

which suppliers qualify for the Article 9 de-minimis exemption versus facing the surcharge on all volume.

• Whether EU or other WTO members that are net PET resin exporters to

Türkiye lodge a consultation request or countermeasure notification under the Safeguards Agreement.