Olin Corp, Westlake Corp and Coalition Prompt EU Anti-Dumping Probe on Asian Epoxy Resins

Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN), as a member of the Ad Hoc Coalition of Epoxy Resin Producers (Coalition), comprised of Olin, Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK), and Spolchemie, announces that the European Commission has initiated an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of epoxy resins from China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. This notice of initiation published today in the European Union (EU) Official Journal results from a complaint lodged by the Coalition to investigate the level of dumping practiced by Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Thai exporters on the EU market and whether dumped imports from the four targeted countries have caused material injury to the European epoxy resin industry. 

The Complaint alleges that exporting producers in the four targeted countries have injured the European epoxy resin producers by selling their products on the EU market at unfairly low prices that significantly undercut the prices of European producers. If the anti-dumping investigation concludes that injurious dumping practices from the four targeted countries have taken place, the European Commission is entitled to impose additional duties on imports of epoxy resins from the four targeted countries to restore a level playing field in the EU.

The dumping margins alleged during the investigation period and set in the complaint are as follows:

The European producers in the Coalition manufacture epoxy resins, an essential component for which there are no practical substitutes, for various customer applications including critical industries such as Aerospace, Automotive, Defense, Electrical Transmission, Semiconductors, and Wind Energy. The availability of European epoxy production is critical to ensure the EU's supply chain resiliency for the industries that deliver progress toward the European Green Deal priorities.

"Although this issue is not unique to Epoxy, nor to the EU, the significant volume of what we believe are unfairly dumped imports of epoxy resin have a seriously negative impact on the EU," said Florian Kohl, President, Olin Epoxy & International. "Related unfair trade practices for the same products are also under investigation in the United States by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission."

If successful, this investigation will ensure that foreign epoxy resin producers cannot continue to benefit from sending dumped epoxy resins to the EU market and will restore the health of the EU epoxy resin industry, improve the resilience and security of domestic epoxy resin supply chains, enhance the jobs and communities that rely on the epoxy resin industry, and strengthen European economic security by preserving a critical EU manufacturing sector. The entire EU industrial complex would benefit from such an outcome.