Pakistan Imposes Final Duties of Up to 37.30% on U.S. PVC Resin Imports
Key Facts
Pakistan’s National Tariff Commission imposed final anti-dumping duties on suspension-grade polyvinyl chloride resin imported from Indonesia and the United States, in a decision dated 8 November 2026. The duties are 17.70% on Indonesian imports and range from 22.28% to 37.30% on U.S. imports. The measure applies for five years from 23 July 2026, according to the commission’s notice. The decision is part of Investigation No. 71, launched on 17 April 2026, which covered the same product from both countries. It gives domestic producers additional trade protection while changing the terms of entry for imported PVC resin into the Pakistani market.
The duties on U.S. companies differ: the commission set a rate of 37.30% for Westlake Vinyls Company and 22.28% for Westlake Vinyls. These rates match the range of U.S. duties cited in the investigation record, while a single rate of 17.70% was set for Indonesian imports. According to the commission’s notice, the final measure is in addition to other taxes and duties imposed on imports. The rates therefore represent an additional customs cost for the product covered, alongside existing import obligations. Their impact extends to industries that use the resin as a raw material, although the notice specifies legal exemptions for certain uses.
The commission said it found that the domestic industry had suffered material injury due to an increase in the volume of dumped imports, price undercutting against domestic prices, and a decline in domestic prices or suppression of price increases. It also cited declines in market share, profits and return on investment among the injury factors it linked to imports. This finding underpins the final decision and the duties set for each country and exporter. The commission added that Westlake’s two companies provided the data and information needed to calculate individual dumping margins on the U.S. side. By contrast, it said Indonesian exporters and producers did not provide the requested information.
The investigation covers suspension-grade PVC resin classified under Pakistan’s customs code 3904.1090. The commission says the product is used to make pipes and fittings, garden hoses, footwear, cables, films and sheets, and is also used in compounding and packaging. This scope places the measure on an industrial input with applications ranging from construction materials to manufacturing and packaging products. The commission says Engro Polymer & Chemical was the sole PVC resin producer in Pakistan and accounted for 100% of domestic production. It estimated the company’s installed production capacity at about 295,000 tons a year in its preliminary report issued on 20 July 2026.
Engro’s data show that its PVC sales totaled 212,000 tons in 2024, down from 221,000 tons in 2023. But volumes rose to 54,000 tons in the first quarter of 2025, compared with 45,000 tons in the same period of 2024. In an investor briefing for the first quarter of 2025, the company said the domestic market grew 23% year on year, alongside an increase in imports. The company attributed the inflow of imports to continued declines in global prices and said imported resin remained competitive. These figures provide context for the market’s sensitivity to external prices, but relate to periods before the final decision.
The final decision followed a preliminary phase in which the commission made its preliminary determination on 23 July 2026, after launching the investigation on 17 April of the same year. The preliminary report used the period from 1 January to 31 December 2025 to assess dumping, and the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025 to assess injury. Pakistan had also imposed final duties on PVC imports from China, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, and extended those duties for three years from 8 June 2025. The duties on the United States and Indonesia therefore join a broader set of trade restrictions on the product, with different countries and legal periods. The final notice exempts resin used as an input in products intended exclusively for export, as well as certain foreign grant-funded projects, if the imports are covered by a customs duty exemption scheme.