The U.S. Department of Commerce announced affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of acetone from Belgium, South Africa, and South Korea, finding that exporters of acetone from Belgium, South Africa, and South Korea, have dumped acetone in the United States at the following rates:

• Belgium – 28.17 percent
• South Africa – 45.85 percent
• South Korea – 7.67 percent to 47.70 percent

As a result of the decisions, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of acetone from Belgium, South Africa, and South Korea based on these preliminary rates.

In 2018, imports of acetone from Belgium, South Africa, and South Korea were valued at an estimated $51.1 million, $21.8 million, and $61.2 million, respectively.

The petitioner is the Coalition for Acetone Fair Trade. The members of the Coalition for Acetone Fair Trade are AdvanSix, Inc. (Parsippany, NJ), Altivia Petrochemicals, LLC (Haverhill, OH), and Olin Corporation (Clayton, MO).

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 182 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – a 231 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 496 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

Commerce is scheduled to announce the final determinations on or about December 3, 2019.

If Commerce’s final determinations are affirmative, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or about January 16, 2020. If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations of dumping, and the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders. If Commerce makes negative final determinations of dumping, or the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.