Mechanism
Resolução GECEX nº 875, signed 1 April 2026 and published in the DOU on 6 April 2026, applies definitive antidumping duties for up to five years on imports classified under NCM 2922.11.00 (monoethanolamines, MEA) and NCM 2922.12.00 (diethanolamines, DEA) originating from the People's Republic of China. The measure was adopted at the 235th Ordinary GECEX meeting on 26 March 2026.
The duty schedule is structured as ad valorem rates on customs value:
| Exporter | AD Duty Rate |
|---|
| Sailboat Petrochemical Co., Ltd. | 23.6% |
| Born King Company Limited | 95.6% |
| 24 additional named cooperating producers | 95.6% |
| Qingdao Highly Chemical New Materials Co., Ltd. | 97.3% |
| All other producers/exporters (residual) | 97.3% |
The injury determination period covered April 2019 through March 2024. Oxiteno SA (Mauá, São Paulo — since acquired by Indorama Ventures) was the sole domestic petitioner and the canonical Latin American integrated ethanolamines producer, with downstream assets in surfactants inherited from Ultrapar.
Ethanolamines are produced by reacting ethylene oxide with ammonia. MEA (monoethanolamine) is critical for CO₂ absorption in oil and gas sweetening operations, glyphosate salt formulation (MEA-glyphosate is a major glyphosate ester used in Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, UPL, and Adama products in Brazil), and surfactants (cocamide MEA/DEA). DEA is used in secondary surfactants and gas-treating solvents.
The measure is adopted under Lei nº 9.019/1995 (Brazil's foundational AD/CVD/safeguards parent statute), Decreto nº 8.058/2013, and the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement (Article VI GATT 1994).
Downstream implications
- Agrochemical cost passthrough: Brazil is the world's largest soybean producer and glyphosate consumer. MEA is a primary salt-formation input; Res 875 materially raises Chinese-sourced MEA landed costs for Bayer CropScience Brasil, Syngenta Brasil, UPL Brasil, and Adama Brasil formulation plants, with downstream pass-through into agricultural input prices in the Cerrado.
- Oxiteno-Indorama platform protection: The duty provides tariff shelter to Indorama's integrated Brazilian ethanolamines platform through at least 2031 (5-year maximum duration), anchoring the Mauá facility's competitiveness against the 2023–2025 Chinese capacity wave (Sinopec, Wanhua Chemical, Nanjing Jinling Petrochemical additions).
- Sector extension of the NIB trade-defence pillar: Res 875 extends the 2025–2026 GECEX trade-remedy wave — previously concentrated in steel (Res 765, 849, 854, 856, 857), polyester fibres (Res 778), optical fibre (Res 829, 837), and medical devices (Res 855) — into petrochemical-amines. This is the first GECEX AD/CVD instrument on the register targeting an ethylene-oxide derivative.
- First ethanolamine trade-remedy on IPTM register: Opens the petrochemical-amines typology globally; no prior AD/CVD actions on ethanolamines were filed across any jurisdiction in the register despite the 2023–2025 Chinese overcapacity wave.
Open questions
- Whether the parallel DECOM anti-subsidy (CVD) investigation against Chinese and Indonesian ethanolamine imports leads to a companion CVD resolution, creating a layered AD + CVD enforcement architecture analogous to filed dual-track measures in other sectors.
- Five-year sunset-review timeline (expected ~2031); whether Indorama will petition for extension.
- Scope extension risk to triethanolamine (TEA, NCM 2922.13) — noted in DECOM investigative record as a related product but excluded from Res 875 product scope.