US Commerce to cease anti-dumping tariffs on some Japanese CR grades

ERJ staff report (DS)

Washington, DC -- Following a communication from Du Pont Performance Elastomers, the US Department of Commerce is to end the anti-dumping tariffs levied on some grades of polychloroprene rubber imported from Japan. DPE is the only producer of polychloroprene rubber in the US.

DPE filed a change of circumstance notice with the Commerce Department on 23 January, 2008, requesting partial revokation of the antidumping duty on certain polychloroprene products coming into the US from Japan. In February, DPE closed its polychloroprene factory in Louisville, after opening a different factory using different technology in Pontchartain, Kentucky.

In its January 23, 2008 submission, DPE stated that it no longer has any interest in antidumping relief from imports of solid polychloroprenes that are dipolymers of chloroprene and methacrylic acid having methacrylic acid comonomer content in the 1.0 percent to 5.0 percent range (this category does not include aqueous chloroprene/methacrylic acid dipolymer dispersion products or solvent solutions of chloroprene/methacrylic acid dipolymers).

The following type of polychloroprene rubber is excluded from the scope of the finding: solid polychloroprenes that are dipolymers of chloroprene and methacrylic acidhaving methacrylic acid comonomer content in the 1.0 percent to 5.0 percent range.

In a statement, the Commerce department said, "Based on the expression of no interest by the sole domestic producer, the Department has preliminarily determined that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product have no further interest in the continued application of the AD finding on PCR that is subject to this request. Therefore, we are notifying the public of our intent to revoke, in part, the AD finding as it relates to imports of certain PCR products from Japan."

The statement continued, "Accordingly, the Department intends to amend the scope of the finding on PCR from Japan to read as follows: Imports covered by this review are shipments of polychloroprene rubber, an oil resistant synthetic rubber also known as polymerized chlorobutadiene or neoprene, currently classifiable under items 4002.42.00, 4002.49.00, 4003.00.00, 4462.15.21 and 4462.00.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). HTSUS item numbers are provided for convenience and customs purposes."

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Press release from Dept of Commerce (US)