US Department of Commerce Significantly Lowers Dumping Margin on Korean Epoxy Resin... "Easing Industry Burden"

Final Determination Sets Dumping Margin at 5.68% to 7.6%

The U.S. Department of Commerce has lowered the dumping margin for Korean-made epoxy resin (AEpoxy Resin) by up to 19 percentage points compared to the preliminary determination in its final anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 2nd that the final dumping margin for Korean epoxy resin was determined to be 5.68% to 7.6%, significantly lower than the 16.02% to 24.65% range presented in the preliminary determination in November 2023.

The ministry explained, "This result came from domestic companies collaborating to promptly identify a significant ministerial error that occurred in the preliminary determination and actively responding to correct it."

A ministerial error refers to cases under U.S. federal regulations where calculation mistakes, incorrect data copying, or duplication errors cause the margin rate to differ by more than 5 percentage points or decrease by at least 25%.

After holding a meeting with the industry in November 2023 to gather opinions, the ministry officially sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce in December of the same year requesting correction of the error.

The countervailing duty investigation results are also positive for the industry. The final subsidy rate was calculated at 1.01% to 1.84%, which is very low compared to major competitors such as China (up to 547.76%), India (10.66% to 103.72%), and Taiwan (3.38% to 19.13%), suggesting a limited impact on the domestic industry.

The final decision on the imposition of U.S. tariffs will be confirmed through the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)'s injury determination scheduled for May 12.

An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "The government will continue to strengthen public-private cooperation to minimize difficulties faced by our companies due to import regulations and will respond with full efforts to major trade issues."