Complaint to protect the plastic industry rejected

Fees on preform plastic imports will remain stable

The Ministry of Economy and Trade issued a decision against a request to increase customs rates on imported preform plastic products.

The current custom rate for these products is ten percent.

The Ministry has received a complaint from Petco, a local manufacturer of preform plastic products, which is used in the manufacturing of water, juice, and milk bottles. Petco asked the Ministry to protect the national production of perform plastic, against ‘dumping’, the import of low-priced products from abroad. It claimed that an increase in imports of preform has been hurting its production. According to Petco, the value of these imports increased by 47 percent in 2012, compared to the previous year.

The Ministry investigated the complaint with the participations of all perform plastic manufacturers who claim to be suffering from dumping. However, the investigation did not show that imports have had a negative impact on local producers.

Preform plastics are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This raw material is imported from companies in the Gulf, like the Saudi-based Sabic and others in Turkey, where operational costs are low. Imports from preform plastics reached $20 million last year, while exports did not exceed $2.5 million, according to Lebanese Customs.