Plastic manufacturers complain of rising imports

Dumping threatens ‘Preform’ industry

The Ministry of Economy and Trade received a complaint from Petco, a local manufacturer of ‘Preform’ plastic products used for water, juice, and milk bottles.

Preform plastics are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This raw material is imported from companies in Gulf countries, especially Sabic in Saudi Arabia. Petco purchases about 500 tons of PET every month.

Petco asked for protecting the national production from dumping. It claimed an increase in imports of Preform hurts its production. According to Petco, the value of these finished products imports increased by 47 percent in 2012, compared to the previous year.

The Ministry of Economy and Trade said it will start investigating the issue. It invited all producers of Preform plastics that are suffering from dumping to submit a complaint to the Ministry. Companies should prove that imports have a negative impact on their production.

The Ministry could decide to raise custom fees on imports of perform plastic products.

The Preform plastics industry faces competition from countries that have low operational costs, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.