US drops duty on Japanese polychloroprene

ERJ staff report (R&PN)

Washington DC -- The US government has revoked a 55-percent antidumping duty on polychloroprene rubber imported from Japan, after first levying it nearly 37 years ago.

The Treasury Department issued an antidumping finding against Japanese polychloroprene on Dec. 6, 1973, according to a Commerce Department notice in the Aug. 24, 2010 Federal Register.

On July 1 of this year, the International Trade Commission instituted a routine five-year review of the duty, calling on representatives of the domestic polychloroprene industry to comment by Aug. 2 on whether revoking the duty would cause material injury to domestic producers. Because no one filed a response, the Commerce Department canceled the tariff effective Aug. 4, the fifth anniversary of the most recent previous review.

Today, there is only one manufacturer of polychloroprene rubber in the US, DuPont Performance Elastomers L.L.C. DuPont officials could not be reached for comment.

In March 2006, the ITC rejected a petition from Gates Corp. and about a dozen other rubber product makers, asking the commission to institute a “changed circumstances” review of the antidumping duties against Japanese polychloroprene. DuPont Performance Elastomers had announced plans to close its polychloroprene facility in Louisville, Ky., and consolidate production at a plant in LaPlace, La. Gates and the other manufacturers said DuPont Performance Elastomers was already not producing enough polychloroprene to meet US demand.

After several delays, DuPont Performance Elastomers closed the Louisville plant in March 2008.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)

Relevant entry in Federal Register