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C0MC94) 178 final 
Brussels, 05.05.1994 
Proposal for a 
Çff}\m\l REGULATION (EC) 
terminating the review of anti-dumping measures concerning 
imports of certain acrylic fibres originating in Mexico 
and repealing the measures applying to such imports 
(presented by the Commission) 
liîli 
- A -
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
1. In October 19 89, definitive anti-dumping measures in the form of 
duties and undertakings were imposed on imports of certain acrylic 
fibres originating in Mexico^1). 
2. A request for a review of the measures was subsequently received 
from the majority of the Mexican producers concerned. These 
companies requested to be released from their price undertakings 
and have the measures in force repealed. Following consultations 
within the Advisory Committee, it was considered that the request 
contained sufficient evidence to justify initiating a review under 
Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No. 2423/88(2) on the grounds of 
changed circumstances. 
3. Accordingly, the Commission published a notice in the Official 
Journal of the European Communities(3) and commenced an 
investigation. 
4. With regard to injury, it was established that the Community 
industry had not suffered material injury. 
5. The question of whether recurrence of injury or threat of injury 
is likely to occur in the event of the measures being repealed has 
also been addressed. It has been concluded, for the reasons 
contained in the draft Regulation, that it is not foreseeable that 
the repeal of the anti-dumping measures would result in dumped 
imports of acrylic fibres from Mexico regaining a share of the 
Community market sufficient to cause injury and that, 
consequently, such repeal would not lead to a recurrence of 
material injury to the Community industry concerned. 
6. It is therefore proposed that the present review be terminated and 
the anti-dumping measures currently in force be repealed. 
(1) OJ No. L 301, 19.10.1989, p. 1 
(2) OJ No. L 209, 2.8.1988, p. 1 
(3) OJ No. C 154, 5.6.1993, p. 7 
— 4 SL _ 
Council Regulation (EC) 
of 
terminating the review of anti-dumping measures concerning 
imports of certain acrylic fibres originating in Mexico 
and repealing the measures applying to such imports 
The Council of the European Union, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2423/88 of 11 July 1988 on 
protection against dumped or subsidised imports from countries not 
members of the European Community(1) as last amended by Regulation 
(EC) No 522/94 of 7 March 1994(2), and in particular Articles 9 and 14 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal submitted by the Commission after 
consultation within the Advisory Committee as provided for under the 
above-mentioned Regulation, 
Whereas : 
(1) OJ No L 209, 02.08.1988, p. 1 
(2) OJ No L 66, 10.03.1994, p. 10 
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A. PREVIOUS PROCEDURE 
(1) By Decision 86/46 8/EEc(^), the Council accepted price 
undertakings for imports of certain acrylic fibres originating in, 
inter alia, Mexico. 
(2) Early in 1988, the International Rayon and Synthetic Fibres 
Committee ("IRSFC") acting on behalf of producers accounting for 
virtually the entire Community output of the acrylic fibres 
concerned, asked the Commission to review the anti-dumping 
measures applicable to imports from Mexico and to re-open the 
investigation. 
(3) The Advisory Committee having been consulted, it was considered 
that the request contained sufficient evidence of changed 
circumstances to warrant a review, under Article 14 of Regulation 
(EEC) No 2423/88 as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 522/94 
(hereafter referred to as "the basic Regulation"). 
(4) The Commission therefore published a notice in the official 
Journal of the European Communities(4) announcing a review of the 
measures and reopening of the investigation. 
(5) As a result of this review, the Council, by Regulation (EEC) No 
3121/89<5), modified the measures applicable to imports of 
certain acrylic fibres originating in Mexico by imposing residual 
duties and accepting new or revised undertakings from five 
companies. 
(3) OJ No L 272, 24.09.1986, p. 29 
(4) OJ No C 117, 04.05.1988, p. 3 
(5) OJ No L 301, 19.10.1989, p. 1 
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(6) Subsequently, the Commission received a request for a review of 
the measures from three of the Mexican companies who had given 
undertakings in 1989. These companies requested to be released 
from their price undertakings and have Regulation (EEC) No 3121/89 
repealed on the grounds that the prices of imports originating in 
Mexico were higher than those of the Community producers, that 
Mexican export prices were significantly higher than those of 
other third countries selling to the Community and that the 
Mexican products concerned held a "de-minimis" share of the 
overall Community Market. Following consultations with the 
Advisory Committee, it was considered that the request contained 
sufficient evidence to justify initiating a review under Article 
14 of the basic Regulation on the grounds of changed 
circumstances. 
(7) Accordingly, the Commission published a notice in the Official 
Journal of the European Communities(^) and commenced an 
investigation. 
(8) The Commission officially notified the Community producers, 
exporters and importers known to be concerned and the 
representatives of the exporting country of the initiation of the 
proceeding and gave the parties concerned the opportunity to make 
their views known in writing and to request a hearing. 
(9) The Commission sought and verified all the information it deemed 
to be necessary for the purpose of its investigation and visited 
the premises of the following companies: 
(6) OJ No C 154, 05.06.1993, p. 7 
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(a) community producers: 
- Courtaulds Fibres Ltd, Bradford 
Courtaulds Espana S.A., Barcelona 
- Enichem Fibre S.p.A., Milan 
- Fibras Sinteticas de Portugal S.A., Barreiro 
- Montefibre S.p.A., Milan 
(b) Mexican exporters: 
Acrilia S.A. de C.V., Mexico City 
Celulosa y Derivados S.A. de C.V., Guadalajara 
Crisol International S.A. de C.V., Mexico City 
- Crisol Textil S.A. de C.V., Mexico City 
Fibras Sinteticas S.A. de C.V., Mexico City 
(c) Unrelated importer: 
Kaben S.A., Terrassa (Barcelona) 
It should be noted that one Community producer, Bayer AG of 
Dormagen, submitted a reply to the Commission's questionnaire 
outside the time limit laid down for the purposes of receipt of 
replies to the questionnaire. Since taking the information into 
account would have delayed investigation, in this proceeding, in 
accordance with Article 7(7)(b) of the basic Regulation, the 
findings on injury have been based on the facts available, i.e. 
data submitted by the cooperating Community producers which 
accounted for a major proportion (56%) of the Community output of 
the product concerned and verified by the Commission. 
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(10) The Community producers, the exporters and the unrelated importer 
which cooperated requested and were informed of the essential 
facts and considerations on the basis of which it was intended to 
recommend the termination of the review and repeal the anti­
dumping measures. The Commission took into account, where 
appropriate, the submissions of the parties concerned. 
(11) The investigation of dumping covered the period from 1 April 1992 
to 31 March 1993. 
B. PRODUCT 
(12) The products concerned by this review proceeding are identical to 
the products subject to the definitive measures referred to in 
recital 5, namely: 
acrylic filament tow (commonly known as "acrylic tow"); 
acrylic staple fibres, not carded, combed or otherwise 
processed for spinning (commonly known as "acrylic staple"); 
acrylic staple fibres, carded, combed or otherwise processed 
for spinning (commonly known as "acrylic tops"). 
It should be noted that acrylic staple and acrylic tops are 
derived directly from acrylic tow and thus form a family of 
closely-related products. As it is also normally the case that 
acrylic fibre producers manufacture and sell all three products, 
for the purposes of this investigation they have been regarded as 
one product and, unless otherwise specified, are referred to in 
this Regulation as "acrylic fibres". 
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C. DUMPING 
(13) The question of dumping by the Mexican exporters was investigated 
fully by the Commission. However, in view of the conclusions 
drawn later in this Regulation with regard to injury and 
likelihood of further injury in the event of repeal of the 
existing measures, it is not considered necessary to examine this 
question in the present Regulation. 
D. INJURY 
1. Volume, market share and prices 
(a) Volume of dumped imports 
(14) It was established that between 19 89 and the investigation period, 
the volume of acrylic fibres imported into the Community of 
Mexican origin rose slightly from 2,331 tonnes to 2,576 tonnes. 
In terms of the market share of these Mexican imports over the 
same period, this remained stable at around 0.6% of the Community 
market. 
(b) Prices of the dumped imports 
(15) A price comparison was made between the ex-works prices of the 
Community producers and the duty paid prices of acrylic tops 
exported by the Mexican producers during the investigation period. 
The comparison shows that the Mexican imports were undercutting 
the Community producers by 2.3%. 
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(c) Consumption in the Community 
(16) With regard to consumption of acrylic fibres in the Community, it 
was found that this had fallen from 430,461 tonnes in 19 89 to 
404,653 tonnes during the investigation period, a drop of 5.9%. 
2. Situation of the Community industry 
(a) Production, capacity and utilisation of capacity 
(17) Total production volumes of those companies which cooperated with 
the Commission's investigation rose from 374,000 tonnes in 1989 to 
410,000 tonnes in the investigation period, an increase of 9.6%. 
It should also be noted that information available to the 
Commission indicates that there was a rise in production volume of 
7.6% among those companies which failed to cooperate with the 
investigation. 
(18) Capacity utilisation for the cooperating Community producers 
during the investigation period was found to be at least 90%. 
(b) Sales volumes and market share 
(19) The quantities of acrylic fibres sold in the Community by all the 
Community producers dropped from 402,000 tonnes in 1989 to 378,000 
tonnes during the investigation period, a fall of 6%. On the 
other hand, the overall market share of these community producers 
remained stable at around 93% over the same period. 
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(c) Price evolution 
(20) The investigation showed that weighted average ex-works sales 
price in the Community of the Community producers dropped by 8.1% 
in the case of acrylic tow between 1989 and the investigation 
period, by 6.3% in the case of acrylic staple and by 2.3% in the 
case of acrylic tops. 
(d) Profits 
(21) During the investigation period, the cooperating Community 
producers achieved a weighted average net profit on turnover of 
9.6% for sales of acrylic fibres. The profit margin was 10.5% in 
1992 and 9.8% in 1991. 
(e) Conclusions 
(22) In drawing conclusions from the above data, it should be 
remembered that between 1986 and the investigation period, anti­
dumping measures in the form of price undertakings were in force 
against imports of Mexican acrylic fibres and acrylic fibres of 
other third country origin. Overall demand in the Community for 
acrylic fibres has shrunk since 19 89 and this decline in demand 
has caused a corresponding downturn in both the sales volumes and 
sales prices achieved by the Community producers. 
On the other hand, the Community producers have increased their 
production volume over this period, maintained very high capacity 
utilisation levels and also achieved levels of profitability which 
are not unreasonable. 
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(23) In view of the above factors, it is concluded that the CoHMftity 
industry did not suffer material injury within the meaning of 
Article 4(1) of the basic Regulation. 
E. LIKELIHOOD OF FURTHER INJURY IN THE EVENT OF REPEAL 
OF THE EXISTING ANTI-DUMPING MEASURES 
1. Preliminary considerations 
(24) The fact that the dumped imports are not currently causing injury 
is not, by itself, a reason for removing the existing anti-dumping 
measures. In such circumstances and within the framework of a 
review initiated at the request of the majority of Mexican 
producers, the question has to be considered of whether repealing 
the anti-dumping measures would lead again to injury or threat of 
injury. In this regard, it must be determined whether a 
recurrence of injury to the Community industry caused by dumping 
of Mexican products would be foreseeable in the absence of 
measures. 
(25) To this end, the production volume and capacities in Mexico, the 
profits and sales levels of Mexican producers on the Mexican 
market, the profits and sales levels of Mexican producers on 
markets other than Mexico or the Community and general 
developments in trade have all been taken into account. 
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2. Production volume and capacity in Mexico 
(26) The investigation established that the production volume of 
acrylic fibres of the Mexican producers had risen by approximately 
20% between 1989 and the investigation period. Capacity 
utilisation had remained fairly static at around 88%. 
In this regard, the Community industry stated that the Mexican 
producers have plans to further enlarge their capacity and step-up 
exports to the Community to fill this extra capacity, however, no 
evidence to support these allegations was provided and no 
indications leading to this conclusion were found during the 
investigation. 
3. Sales and profits in Mexico 
(27) Contrary to the allegations made during the course of the 
investigation by the Community producers, it was found that the 
Mexican producers had made reasonable profits on their sales of 
acrylic fibres in Mexico. In recent years, weighted average 
domestic profits ranged from 13.8% to 19%. Such domestic sales 
represent, on average, approximately 75% of the Mexican producers' 
total sales and, in terms of volume, had increased by 
approximately 12% between 1989 and the investigation period. 
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4. Sales and profits in the Community 
(28) The investigation showed that the Mexican producers' export sales 
to the Community account for less than 1% of their total sales. 
With regard to the profits and sales in the Community achieved by 
such sales, it was found that the Mexican peso had appreciated 
against the ECU when comparing the exchange rate at the beginning 
of the investigation period with the exchange rate at the end of 
that period. In conjunction with the Community producers' 
declining sales prices in the community, this led to a situation 
where exports at the new exchange rate levels left the Mexican 
producers with relatively uncompetitive duty paid import prices. 
5. Volume and profits in other markets 
(excluding the Community) 
(29) During the investigation period, it was found that the sales of 
acrylic fibres to markets other than Mexico and the Community and 
which accounted for approximately 24% of the investigated Mexican 
producers' total sales, were mainly in Latin America. Such sales 
achieved weighted average profits of approximately 2% on turnover. 
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6. General developments in trade 
(a) Decline of the Chinese market 
(30) Information supplied during the investigation showed that until 
the end of 1992, the People's Republic of China was a major buyer 
of acrylic fibres manufactured by Community producers. Data 
concerning sales to China showed that such sales represented 
approximately 16% of the total output of the Community acrylic 
fibre industry. In 1993, however, China drastically reduced its 
import requirements and the latest information available shows 
that Community producers only exported amounts there equivalent to 
1.7% of total Community production during the first half of 1993. 
(31) Clearly, in order to maintain high production and capacity 
utilisation levels, the Community producers have had to react very 
quickly and find alternative markets for their products. The 
problem for them has been exacerbated by the declining demand 
within the Community for acrylic fibres (see recital 16) and, 
unless new export markets can be found, the EC producers will be 
faced with excess capacities combined with falling prices and 
profits as competition amongst themselves increases both inside 
and outside the Community. 
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(b) General decline in demand 
(32) As has been shown in this Regulation, consumption and demand for 
acrylic fibres has fallen and this decline looks set to continue 
into the future. In addition to the loss of the Chinese market, 
the Community producers have attributed the fall in demand partly 
to a trend among Community clothing manufacturers to make lighter 
weight garments which means that less acrylic fibre is required. 
Also, consumer taste in the major developed markets of the world 
has moved away from articles made from artificial and synthetic 
fibres to articles made from natural fibres such as cotton, wool, 
linen, etc. 
Given this situation and in view of the problems already faced by 
Mexican exporters in remaining competitive at current price 
levels, it is considered unlikely that they will be able to 
increase their sales levels of acrylic fibres to the Community 
particularly if prices fall even further. 
(c) The North American Free Trade Agreement 
(NAFTA) 
(33) It has been argued that another factor which will have an impact 
on the way that Mexican producers trade in acrylic fibres is the 
NAFTA Agreement. Notwithstanding the overall decline in demand 
for acrylic fibres as mentioned in recital 32, North America will 
still remain a huge market and it is likely that improved access 
to this market for finished and part-finished Mexican textile 
products will significantly increase the demand for Mexican 
acrylic fibres. In the present circumstances, it is considered 
that the North American market is likely to be a more attractive 
market for the Mexican exporters than the Community. 
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(d) Conclusion 
(34) All the above factors lead to the conclusion that it is unlikely 
that the Mexican producers will significantly increase their 
exports to the Community, even if the anti-dumping measures were 
no longer in force. 
F. GENERAL CONCLUSION ON THE IMPACT OF 
REPEALING THE EXISTING MEASURES 
(35) Taking into account all factual data available, it has been 
concluded that it is not foreseeable that the repeal of the anti­
dumping measures would result in dumped imports of acrylic fibres 
from Mexico regaining a share of the market sufficient to cause 
injury. Accordingly, it is considered that such repeal would not 
lead to a recurrence of material injury to the Community industry 
concerned. The present review should therefore be terminated and 
the anti-dumping measures currently in force be repealed. 
(36) It is noted, however, that should there be any significant 
increase of imports of acrylic tow, acrylic staple or acrylic tops 
originating in Mexico at dumped prices, the Community Institutions 
would, on the basis of a duly supported complaint by the Community 
industry, consider re-opening expeditiously a new anti-dumping 
proceeding concerning such imports, 
Has adopted this Regulation: 
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Article 1 
council Regulation (EEC) No 3121/89 modifying the anti-dumping measures 
applicable to imports of certain acrylic fibres originating in Mexico 
by introducing an anti dumping duty on such imports, other than those 
from exporters to the Community whose undertakings are accepted is 
hereby repealed and Council Decision (EEC) No 86/468 is hereby repealed 
insofar as it has not lapsed or it has not been repealed by Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 3121/89. 
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its 
publication in the Official Journal of the European Community. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly 
applicable in all Member States. 
Done at Brussels For the Council 
4(o 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM (94) 178 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 1102 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-94-189-EN-C 
ISBN 92-77-68166-7 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg