South Korea to Review Extension of Punitive Duties on Chinese, Taiwanese Yarn

South Korea plans to start official antidumping probes on Chinese and Taiwanese polyester yarn to see if the scheduled removal of punitive duties on the products will hurt the local industry, the government said August 25, 2011.

The Korea Trade Commission decided to launch a probe on Chinese and Taiwanese polyester filament partially oriented yarn (POY) in a meeting held August 25, 2011, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The decision comes after reciewing data of possible unfair price cutting by foreign manufacturers that were submitted by two local manufaturers of the material. The yarn are used to make garments, furniture and other woven products.

Chinese and Taiwanese POY products have been subject to antidumping tariffs ranging from 2.97 to 6.26 percent for three years since Jan. 21, 2009.

The local manufacturers--Seong-an Synthetis Co. and TK Chemical Corp. --requested an extension of the antidumping measures, claiming the end of the pinitice measures in January will still lead to serious damages for the local producters, the ministry said.

South Korea's market for polyester yans stood at 266 billion won (US$246 million) as of last year.

Apart from its antidumping duties on POY products, the country has also been slapping punitive duties of 2.37-8.69 percent on all polyester drawn textured yarn (DTY) made in China, Taiwan and Malaysia since 2006.

The trade commission ruled in favour of the two South Korean polyester manufacturers in 2010 and extended the punitive duties on Chinese, Taiwanese and Malaysia DTY for an additional three years.