US Trade Commission Says China Dumping Vanillin

The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Monday that it has determined that “a U.S. industry is materially injured” by imports of flavoring agent vanillin from China.

A statement from the USITC said that the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined that vanillin is “sold in the United States at less than fair value” and is subsidized by the Chinese state.

In 2023, the United States imported more than 2,500 tons of vanillin from China, worth $38.8 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

The announcement comes after chemical company Solvay USA filed petitions with the Commerce Department and the commission in June 2024 to investigate concerns about China’s dumping of vanillin.

Solvay USA’s legal firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said the petitions were issued to counter unfair imports that were harming the American vanillin industry.

“The petitions allege that the Chinese industry is dumping vanillin in the United States, distorting the U.S. market and resulting in a significant loss of American jobs,” the firm said in a statement.

“The petitions further allege that the Chinese industry is receiving unfair subsidies which further injure the domestic industry.”

Dumping Margins

The Commerce Department listed nine Chinese exporters of vanillin and showed their dumping margins, which represent the percentage by which a product is sold in the United States at a price lower than its fair market value in its home country (in this case, China) or the cost of producing it.

Each of the Chinese companies listed had a weighted-average dumping margin of 190.2 percent during the period from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

The department assigned a 379.87 percent dumping margin to a “China-wide entity.” The rate was calculated “based on facts available with adverse inferences,” meaning it’s a punitive rate for an entity that failed to respond to a Commerce Department questionnaire. 

Commission Chair Amy Karpel and commissioners David S. Johanson and Jason E. Kearns unanimously voted to affirm that the U.S. vanillin industry is “materially injured” by China’s state-subsidized exports.

The commission will publish a report on the determination by Aug. 14.

With the commission’s affirmative determination, the Department of Commerce will issue an antidumping duty order, directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assess antidumping duties on vanillin imports from China.

‘Major Victory’

Reacting to the commission’s announcement, Daniel Pickard, international trade and national security practice group leader at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said it’s “difficult to overstate the importance of this major victory.”

“The significant volumes of unfairly priced imports of Chinese vanillin products have left injured the domestic industry and American companies for far too long,” he said.

“Today’s determination will restore fair pricing in the marketplace and safeguard the interests of domestic producers. We’re very proud of this result.”

The U.S. decision follows a June 12 move by the European Union to impose anti-dumping duties of 131.1 percent on vanillin from China. The EU’s decision followed “an investigation which showed that dumped imports of vanillin from China were harming EU industry.”

Delaware-based Transparency Market Research stated that the global vanillin market is projected to reach $700 million by 2034, more than double the value in 2023 ($299.3 million). The researcher said that the applications of vanillin have expanded from food and beverages into other industries, including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.