China decided on a final anti-dumping duty of 18.5 percent on methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) made by South Korea’s Kumho P&B Chemicals Inc., significantly lower than its preliminary rate of 30 percent.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Monday it will levy anti-dumping duties on the chemical product imported from three countries, including South Korea, Japan and South Africa, over the next five years.

Japanese firms were slapped with a remedial rate of 45 percent to 190.4 percent and South African firms 15.9 percent to 34.1 percent.

MIBK is a compound widely used as a solvent for manufacturing paints, rubbers, industrial cleaners and other chemicals. Kumho P&B, the No. 1 player in the global MIBK market, is the only manufacturer of the product in Korea.

The Chinese commerce ministry launched an anti-dumping probe last March following complaints from local MIBK manufacturers that foreign rivals were selling their products at unfairly low costs. A preliminary ruling in November found that dumping from the three countries had severely damaged the Chinese industry. Korea had at the time been slapped a duty of 29.9 percent.

In the final decision, the ministry maintained that Chinese firms had suffered from a surge in MIBK imports, whose share rose to 52.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2016 from 44.3 percent in 2015. But the duty rates had been lowered for Korea and Japan while remaining the same for South Africa.

China imported $48.5 million worth of MIBK products in 2016, of which Korea accounted for more than half at $26.3 million.

By Hong Hae-jin and Kim Hyo-jin

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