September, 04, 2025 - Brazil's Gecex/Camex government agencies have imposed provisional antidumping duties on polyethylene (PE) resin imports from the US and Canada for a period of six months, starting on August, 28.

The decision applies to all Brazilian imports of polyethylene resins (ethylene polymers, in primary forms, unfilled, with and without additives, with and without pigments) originating in Canada and the U.S., commonly classified under subitems 3901.10.30, 3901.20.29, and 3901.40.00 of the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM). Duties will be collected at a specific rate, set in US dollars per ton of the product, to be applied on top of the custom value of the goods ($199.04/t for US-origin resin and $238.49/t for Canadian-origin resin). These rates reflect the dumping margins identifed by Decom, the Brazilian Department of Trade Defense.

The duties don´t apply to recycled ethylene polymers, ethylene polymer byproducts, ethylene polymers with fillers as well as ethylene polymers that are classified under subitems 3901.20.21, 3901.30.10, 3901.30.90 and under subheading 3901.90 and its subitems of Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM)

The act follows a recommendation by Decom, which launched an investigation on the issue in July, 2024, after a petition from Braskem, a Brazilian Polyethylene producer. Decom´s conclusion reported evidence of harm to Brazil's resin industry caused by American and Canadian PE imports, reportedly under unfair conditions, which could impacts jobs and investments in the chemical sector.

Despite tensions with the US government, the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC) reported that the measure is unrelated to the ongoing tariffs imbroglio . According to the Ministry, which oversees Gecex/Camex, the actions were determined following investigations supported by international trade rules, with the aim of protecting the domestic industry from excessively low prices practiced by foreign companies, with potential to harm the Brazilian industry. In the same act, the application of antidumping duties (a surcharge used to prevent unfair competition) was also set on carbon steel sheets coming from China as well as polyester fibers from India, China, Thailand, and Vietnam.