The Centre has imposed a provisional safeguard duty of 10 percent on all Phthalic Anhydride (PAN) imports into India. This provisional duty will be valid for a period of six months from mid-January unless revoked earlier.
PAN is widely used to manufacture synthetic resins which act as binders in paint products. It also plays a primary role as a chemical intermediate in the production of plastics and polyester resins.
The Director-General (Safeguards) had in September last year recommended an interim safeguard duty of at least 10 percent on PAN imports. The petition seeking safeguard duty was filed by three domestic manufacturers—Thirumalai Chemicals, IG Petrochemicals and Mysore Petrochemicals which account for 87 percent of the domestic production.
The Centre had last imposed a definitive safeguard duty on PAN imports in 2009 for about one year period only, from January 29, 2009 to June 30,2009 (25 percent) and from July 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009 (15 percent).