WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Commerce has concluded its investigations into the dumping of emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber from Versalis S.p.A. of Italy, with an "affirmative determination of sales at less than fair value."
The investigation follows a November 2021 petition by Lion Elastomers, which claimed that EBSR imported from Czechia, Italy and Russia was being dumped in the U.S. market.
The petition covered grades of ESBR included in the IISRP 1500 and 1700 series of synthetic rubber materials sold in all solid forms.
Commerce said April 26 that it had determined that these materials imported from Italy between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, were "being, or is likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value."
Based on its investigation, the U.S. department proposed an antidumping rate of 29 percent on ESBR produced by Versalis.
The U.S. international trade commission now has 120 days to determine whether these imports are "materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry."
According to Commerce, the U.S. imported 3.1 million kilograms of ESBR from Italy in 2021, valued at just under $6 billion.
The determination announcement did not cover producers from Czechia or Russia.