Egypt Taxes EU-Origin PVC at 35%: What Buyers Need to Know
Egypt's Decision 364 of 2026 sets a five-year duty of 35% on CIF, floor USD 274/t, on EU-origin suspension PVC. What the scope and the floor mean for buyers.
Egypt has put a definitive anti-dumping duty on suspension PVC resin from the European Union. Decision 364 of 2026, signed by Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid on 20 August and published in the Egyptian Official Gazette on 8 September, sets the duty at 35% of CIF value with a floor of USD 274 per tonne. The measure runs for five years and covers grades K65 and K67, the viscosity band that pipe and fitting plants in most of the world buy under names like SG-5.
The duty is set by origin. The product itself is not the trigger. Resin produced in, or exported from, the EU pays 35% of CIF, never less than USD 274 per tonne. Chinese-origin resin is not named in the decision as reported. A landed-cost comparison across origins, backed by a written origin declaration before booking, is the practical response.
1. The measure at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Decision | No. 364 of 2026, Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade |
| Signed | 20 August 2026, Minister Mohamed Farid |
| Published | 8 September 2026, Official Gazette issue 197, supplement |
| Product | Suspension PVC resin, unmixed, primary form, grades K65 and K67 (+/-1) |
| Tariff line | HS 3904.10.00.00 |
| Origin scope | Produced in or exported from the European Union |
| Duty | 35% ad valorem on CIF, minimum USD 274 per tonne |
| Term | Five years |
| Legal basis | Law 161 of 1998; Trade Remedy Department announcement 11/2026 |
| Investigation opened | September 2025 |
| Findings | Dumping, material injury to the domestic industry, causal link |
| Duty payment | Special account at the Central Bank of Egypt |
The details above come from Egyptian trade press (Amwal Al-Ghad and Cairo24, 8 September 2026) as compiled by the China-Africa Technical Trade Measures Research Centre on 9 September 2026. No English-language official text was located as of 21 October 2026. The final wording should be confirmed with a customs broker before pricing.
The investigation found that EU-origin PVC entered Egypt at dumped prices and injured the domestic industry, with a causal link between the two. The reported findings put EU products at about 21% of Egypt's PVC imports. The ministry did not publish the absolute volumes, only the share.
2. The floor does the heavy lifting
A percentage duty scales with price. A floor does not. Egypt's measure takes whichever is higher: 35% of CIF, or USD 274 per tonne. The two lines cross at a CIF value of about USD 783 per tonne.
| CIF value, USD/t | 35% ad valorem, USD/t | Duty charged, USD/t | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 600 | 210 | 274 | 45.7% |
| 700 | 245 | 274 | 39.1% |
| 783 | 274 | 274 | 35.0% |
| 900 | 315 | 315 | 35.0% |
| 1,100 | 385 | 385 | 35.0% |
In the band where spot business usually clears, the floor lifts the effective rate by four to eleven points. When prices fall, the duty does not fall with them. A buyer at USD 600 CIF pays 274, not 210.
India runs a different instrument. Its USD 766 per tonne minimum import price is a gate: cargo priced at or below the line needs authorisation to enter as a free import. Egypt's USD 274 is a floor on the tax, not a gate on the cargo. Both change how a quote is built, at different points in the chain. The India mechanics are covered in an earlier article on this site. The grade bands the duty is applied to are on the specification table; common document questions are in the FAQ.
3. The EU and Egypt now tax each other's PVC
The loop closed twice inside eighteen months. In January 2025 the EU imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on suspension PVC from Egypt and the United States: 74.2% to 100.1% for Egyptian product and 58% to 77% for US product, under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/36. That case opened in November 2023, ran through provisional duties from July 2024, and ended with company-specific rates. Egyptian-origin shipments to the EU fell to zero in 2025, on the import series cited in trade-press coverage of the case.
Egypt's September 2026 decision is the same move in the opposite direction, at a lower rate, with a floor attached. The dates are close together: Egypt's gazette publication came on 8 September; the EU opened its own case against China, Korea, Mexico and Taiwan, China on 23 September.
The pattern across 2026 is consistent. Duties attach to origin declarations, and each new measure pushes volume toward origins that are not yet covered. The EU case targets China, Korea, Mexico and Taiwan, China (background in the EU and UK filings); India stacks a minimum price on top of existing duties; Korea opened its case in July; Brazil renewed 21.6% in August.
4. What this means for buyers shipping into Egypt
Two quotes at the same CFR can now differ by more than the duty line itself, once origin differs. A landed-cost comparison needs an origin column.
The grade scope matters. K65 and K67 (+/-1) sit in the viscosity range that pipe and fitting producers buy as SG-5 in most markets. Plants running that band on EU-origin resin have a new duty line. Plants on non-EU origins do not, under this decision.
The scope covers unmixed resin in primary form. Compound with stabilisers and fillers already mixed in sits outside the product definition as reported. Which layer a purchase belongs to decides whether the measure applies, so that point has to be confirmed before assuming exposure either way.
5. What this means for suppliers and buyers elsewhere
Non-EU origins gain room in Egypt. That is arithmetic, not a forecast: EU-origin cargo now carries 35% of CIF with a 274 floor, and competing origins do not.
Origin paperwork is now a priced variable. The certificate of origin, the invoice declaration and the mill certificate decide which side of the duty line a cargo falls on. They are commercial documents, not formalities.
The decision as reported uses a dual test: produced in, or exported from, the EU. Routing questions belong with a customs broker. A change of loading port or a transshipment point does not by itself move a cargo outside the scope.
Chinese-origin resin is not named in this decision. Buyers tracking China exposure in Egypt should watch for a separate case; none was located in public reporting as of 21 October 2026.
6. Points for a buyer's Egypt checklist
Six points belong on a buyer's checklist for Egypt. The origin assumed by each quote needs to be stated in writing. Landed cost has to be re-run with the duty column at 35% of CIF or USD 274 per tonne, whichever is higher. The grade scope is K65/K67 (+/-1) suspension resin, unmixed, HS 3904.10.00.00. A customs broker should confirm the final decision text, any exemptions and the transshipment rules before booking. The sunset clock runs five years from September 2026, with a review possible before expiry. Origin documents decide exposure as much as the cargo does, so they have to be clean.
Public source:
Background on this site: the EU and UK anti-dumping filings, India's three-layer trade measures, and Korea's case against Chinese suspension PVC.
Most pipe and fitting plants run on SG-5: PVC Resin SG-5 (K 66-68).
SG-5 for the next production run
The grade, the tonnage and the destination port produce a price, a specification sheet and the full document list, usually within 12 hours (GMT+8).