WASHINGTON (March 12, 2008) – The U.S. Department of Commerce said it will drop antidumping tariffs on some grades of neoprene rubber imported from Japan after DuPont Performance Elastomers L.L.C. asked for the change.
The supplier filed a change of circumstance notice with the Commerce Department on Jan. 23, requesting partial revocation of the antidumping duty on certain polychloroprene products coming into the U.S. from Japan. In February, the DuPont division completed the closing of its neoprene plant in Louisville, Ky., after opening a new factory in LaPlace, La., near Lake Pontchartrain, La.
DuPont Performance Elastomers said it no longer has any interest in antidumping relief from imports of solid polychloroprenes that are dipolymers of chloroprene and methacrylic acid having methacrylic acid comonomer content in the 1.0 percent to 5.0 percent range. The category doesn't include aqueous chloroprene/methacrylic acid dipolymer dispersion products or solvent solutions of chloroprene/methacrylic acid dipolymers).
Excluded from tariff relief are solid polychloroprenes that are dipolymers of chloroprene and methacrylic acid having methacrylic acid comonomer content in the 1.0 percent to 5.0 percent range.
The planned closure of the facility resulted in an effort by neoprene buyers such as Gates Corp. to get the International Trade Commission to lift the 55-percent duties on Japanese neoprene to assure supplies. The ITC ruled against that attempt.