Anti-dumping duty on Chinese PBTC for water treatment chemicals now reaches up to 192 percent and the Commission’s case file delivers the market figures along with it

Anti-dumping duty on Chinese PBTC for water treatment chemicals now reaches up to 192 percent and the Commission’s case file delivers the market figures along with it.

I am Siggi. I know the chemistry in Asia.

Since 22 September 2026, a definitive anti-dumping duty has applied to 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid and its sodium salt from China, known in the trade as PBTC. The product is mainly used as a scale and corrosion inhibitor in water treatment and in industrial cleaners. The rates are set per producer. Shandong Taihe Technologies pays 156.7 percent, Jiyuan Qingyuan Water Treatment 183.8 percent and Nantong Uniphos Chemicals 192.2 percent. The other cooperating producers are at 173.8 percent, and all other imports at 192.2 percent. The lower rate only applies if the commercial invoice carries the prescribed manufacturer’s declaration, and only for the legal entity named in the regulation. Related companies fall under the residual rate.

The figures from the proceeding are more telling than the rates. The Commission puts EU consumption for July 2024 to June 2025 at 11,300 to 15,000 tonnes. Imports from China rose from 6,742 tonnes in 2022 to 9,290 tonnes, and their market share most recently stood at 57 to 76 percent. Over the same period, the average import price fell from EUR 2,134 to EUR 976 per tonne. By the time provisional measures were imposed in May 2026, prices had dropped by a further 23 percent, with volumes almost unchanged.

Applying the lowest rate to the average price of EUR 976 adds around EUR 1,530 of duty per tonne. These are figures from the investigation period, not current prices. Even so, the order of magnitude shows that Chinese PBTC is out of the European market for the time being.

According to the Commission’s findings, PBTC is produced outside China only in Germany and India. In the EU, Lanxess is the sole producer. The Commission states that its capacity consistently exceeded EU consumption by more than 5,000 tonnes, and the plant was most recently running at 38 to 48 percent. Anyone who has sourced PBTC from China so far will have to rethink their supply.

For buyers of phosphonates, this is not the first measure this year. In March, the Commission had already imposed a duty of 122.8 percent on phosphorous acid from China, a raw material used to produce phosphonates.

That's the chemistry.
Siggi