China announced a countervailing investigation on some imported chemical products originating in the United States

The Ministry of Commerce received the application for countervailing investigation officially submitted by relevant domestic industries on July 17, 2020. On August 27, the Ministry of Commerce issued an invitation for consultation to the US government on matters related to countervailing investigations, and held consultations with the US government on September 10. According to the Ministry of Commerce, after preliminary examination, the application complies with relevant regulations. Therefore, a countervailing investigation has been conducted on the import of related monoalkyl ethers of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol originating in the United States since September 14. The subsidy investigation period determined in this investigation is from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, and the industrial damage investigation period is from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019.

Monoalkyl ethers of related ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are important organic synthetic raw materials, which are widely used in photoresist, electronic chemicals, automobile brake fluid, aircraft fuel anti icing agent, coating materials, printing ink, textile printing and dyeing, pharmaceutical pesticides, daily chemicals and other fields.

According to Chinese statistics, from 2016 to 2019, China's imports of related monoalkyl ethers of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol from the United States increased significantly. The import volume was 18000 tons in 2016, increased to 24000 tons in 2017, and then exceeded 30000 tons in 2018 and 2019, with a cumulative growth rate of 68.59% over the four-year period.