In March 2018, Chinese government initiated probe on Anti dumping duty investigation on Phenol imports from five origins which include US, EU, South Korea, Japan and Thailand. The initial probe lasts for six months but it has been delayed by one year now. “This is the longest ADD investigation in quite a while. Under normal circumstances, the final results would have been announced in one year, Chinese authorities may be opting to wait until after the 90-day trade war truce with the US lapses on 1 March, before taking any further action. Chinese buyers had lost interest in US-origin phenol following imposition of a 10% import duty in late August 2018. US was a major exporter of the material to China, from which the northeast Asian country sourced about a third of its phenol imports in 2016.US-origin phenol bound for China was imposed with a 10% import duty in late August last year, when the second volley of shots were fired in the trade war between the two economic giants.
