EU CIR 2026/801: provisional anti-dumping duties on terephthalic acid from Korea and Mexico (6.2%–25.7%)

Mechanism

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/801 imposes provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of terephthalic acid (purified PTA, ≥99.5% purity, CAS 100-21-0) originating in the Republic of Korea and Mexico, following a DG TRADE investigation opened 13 August 2025 on a complaint from EU producer Ineos Aromatics (representing >25% of Union PTA output). Imports from both countries were already made subject to registration under Article 14(5) of the basic anti-dumping Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2013 of 8 October 2025, preserving the option of retroactive duty collection on registered volumes.

Duty structure (differentiated by exporter and country):

• Korea: Samnam Petrochemical Co., Ltd. 6.2%; Hanwha Impact Corporation (cooperating,

non-sampled) 6.2%; all other Korean producers 13.7%; Taekwang Industrial Co., Ltd. found not to be dumping — 0% duty.

• Mexico: flat 25.7% on all exporting producers (no company-specific differentiation found).

Investigation-period (1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025) dumped import volumes were roughly 440,000–500,000 tonnes from Korea and 110,000–140,000 tonnes from Mexico, against total EU PTA consumption of approximately 2.0–2.5 million tonnes. PTA is the primary feedstock for PET resin (bottles, packaging film) and polyester fibre production, so the EU downstream packaging and textile-fibre chains are direct consumers of the duty-affected input.

Downstream implications

• PET packaging cost pressure: PTA is >70% of PET resin's feedstock cost; EU PET converters

and bottlers sourcing Korean or Mexican PTA face an immediate input-cost increase, with limited short-run substitution given the concentration of non-EU PTA supply in Korea, Mexico, and China (China already faces separate EU trade-defence exposure in adjacent chemical products).

• Polyester textile chain: EU polyester-fibre producers using imported PTA face the same cost

pass-through; downstream apparel and technical-textile manufacturers are indirectly exposed. Taekwang's 0% rate gives Korean PTA buyers a duty-free routing option through that single supplier, a competitive edge over Samnam/Hanwha and all Mexican producers.

• Provisional-to-definitive path: under EU Regulation (EU) 2016/1036, provisional duties

typically run up to 6 months before a definitive determination (with possible retroactive application to registered imports) or lapse if the Commission drops the case — the definitive outcome (expected ~Q4 2026) is the event to watch, since rates commonly shift at that stage.

Open questions

• Whether the definitive-stage investigation confirms, raises, or narrows the Mexico flat-rate

25.7% duty — Mexican producers were not individually differentiated at the provisional stage, which is unusual and may be revisited if additional exporters come forward to claim individual treatment.

• Whether retroactive collection is applied to the registered import volumes from the 8 October

2025 registration regulation onward, per Article 10(4) conditions.

• Full company-level TARIC additional-code list (only the headline rates were confirmed via public

sources; the complete Annex table sits in the EUR-Lex regulation text).