Product description – The product under consideration is Polyethylene Terephthalate Film or Biaxially Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate Film or PET Films of 8-100 microns. PET Film for use in solar panels and Thermal Lamination Film are excluded from the product scope.

HS Code – 3920 6210, 3920 6220, 3920 6290, 3920 6919, 3921 9094.

Uses – PET Films are majorly used as packaging material in fast moving consumer goods. It is also used for industrial applications as electrical insulation, electrical material packaging, magnetic tapes, for printing, in labels, posters, as adhesive tapes and silicon films.

Countries Involved – Bangladesh, China PR and Thailand.

Applicants – Chiripal Poly Films Limited, Ester Industries Limited, Uflex Limited, Sparsh Industries Private Limited and Vacmet India Limited.

Period of investigation – 1^st April 2024 to 31^st March 2025.

Injury period – 2021-2022, 2022-23, 2023-24 and the period of investigation.

Margins and recommended interim duties –

Key Findings –

1. The application was filed against dumping of subject goods from Bangladesh, China PR, Taiwan, Thailand and USA. However, the investigation was not initiated against Taiwan due to negligible volume of injurious imports, and was terminated against USA due to timely withdrawal by the applicants.
2. The product under consideration is Polyethylene Terephthalate Film or Biaxially Oriented Terephthalate Film of 8-100 microns. It is also known as Polyester Films and PET Film.
3. The Authority rejected request for exclusion of PETG Shrink Film from the product scope since the same was produced and sold by the domestic industry.
4. The Authority excluded Thermal Lamination Films from the product scope, as agreed by the domestic industry.
5. PCN methodology based on kind of film, surface treatment and thickness of the film as proposed by domestic industry was accepted.
6. The application was filed on behalf of 5 applicant domestic producers. Further, 10 other domestic producers supported the application. The applicants constitute a major proportion (45%) of the total eligible domestic production in India and constitute domestic industry as defined under the Anti-dumping Rules.
7. The Authority sampled two producer groups along with their respective exporters, Kanghui Group and Jiangsu Shuangxing Color Plastic New Materials Co., Limited, from China for determination of individual dumping margin, considering participation of large number of exporters.  
8. The Authority preliminary noted that the dumped imports caused material injury to the domestic industry.
9. The volume of imports increased significantly over the injury period and was the highest during the period of investigation.
10. The import price was below the cost of sales of the domestic industry, forcing it to reduce its prices below cost.
11. The domestic industry faced significant decline in domestic sales, capacity utilization, market share, resulting in increased inventories.
12. The domestic industry suffered significant losses, cash losses and recorded a negative return on its capital employed.
13. It was also preliminarily observed that the dumped imports are threatening to cause further injury to the domestic industry considering a) significant rate of increase in imports, b) significant idle capacities available with foreign producers, c) high export orientation of foreign producers, c) global oversupply situation, d) planned capacity expansions, e) imposition of trade remedial measures and other tariff measures by third countries.
14. Imposition of duties will be in the interest of public at large considering that it will have a negligible impact on the downstream users and end-consumers.
15. There is no demand-supply gap in the country, and the dumped imports are entirely unnecessary.
16. Imposition of duties is essential to protect the viability of domestic industry and significant investments made since 2001 to make India self-reliant.