The Egyptian government has removed temporary anti-dumping fees imposed on supplies of polypropylene from Saudi Arabia, after investigating the effect of imports on Egyptian industry. Saudi state news agency SPA said on 8 January that the decision “concluded that the alleged damage to the Egyptian industry is due to other reasons besides the increase in imports, and that the imposition of preventive measures does not serve the Egyptian public interest.”
On SPA Prince ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Salman ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for Petroleum Affairs and chairman of the government committee on dumping and subsidy, said the Egyptian Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade on 23 April 2012 imposed a 15% fee and a minimum polypropylene price of E£1,605/ton on Saudi suppliers. These include Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Petro Rabigh, the National Industrialization Company (Tasnee), and the National Petrochemical Industrial Company (NATPET). Anti-dumping measures are a concern for producers seeking to take advantage of low feedstock costs in order to compete with countries that have their own petrochemicals industries. Saudi firms have had to address claims of dumping, despite their assertion that they have abided by WTO rulings. China threatened to impose taxes on Saudi methanol and butanediol imports in 2009, while India claimed to have been “glutted” with Saudi polypropylene (MEES, 20 July 2009 and 13 July 2009). After talks with Riyadh lasting more than a year, China and India agreed not to impose duties (MEES, 1 November 2010). (CONTINUED - 241 WORDS)
