The Malaysian government has decided to reverse its preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping tariffs on Korean polyethylene terephthalate products, according to industry officials on Sunday.

After an investigation, Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry recently concluded that PET products imported from Korea will not damage the country’s oil and chemical industries, and decided to lift the temporary anti-dumping tariffs, according to industry sources here.

According to a preliminary decision made in December, the Malaysian government sought to slap anti-dumping tariffs of 15.5 percent on PET products exported by several Korean companies, including SK Chemicals and TK Chemical, after a Malaysian company Recron filed a petition to the government in June.

The two Korean companies reportedly export about 10,000 metric tons of PET to Malaysia, annually.

Recron had claimed that the imports of the PET products from six countries, including South Korea, China, Japan and the US, were being dumped into Malaysia at a price much lower than the selling price in the countries’ domestic markets, causing material injury to Malaysian market.

PETG, or Glycolmodified PET, which is one of SK Chemical’s main products, was also considered by the Malaysian government, but it ruled out imposing tariffs on them.

“The Malaysian government’s decision got rid of the uncertainty around the PET and PETG exports,” SK Chemicals official said.

“We will do our best to expand exports in the Southeast Asia region, where an increase in demand for PETG is expected along with the region’s economic growth.”

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)