Eastman and Balchem Support EU's Anti-Dumping Duties on Choline Chloride Imports from China

MONTVALE, N.J., Dec. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As producers of choline chloride in the EU, Eastman and Balchem welcome the European Union's decision published on December 19, 2025 to adopt anti-dumping duties between 90.0 and 115.9% on choline chloride imports from the People's Republic of China. This decision, which will be effective for five years with the possibility of renewal, confirms Europe's determination to ensure the continuation of an important part of the EU food and feed supply chain in the face of unfair trade practices from producers in China.

Defending fair trade in choline chloride is essential to preserving European jobs, encouraging industrial innovation, and supporting a strong and sustainable supply chain for EU food and feed.

Representatives of the EU producers express their companies’ gratitude to the European Commission, and in particular to the Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE), for its rigorous work, independence, and ongoing commitment to fair trade.

The EU industry, which has sufficient production capacities in place to accommodate the full EU market demand and growth for the foreseeable future, sees these measures as essential for assuring their ability to continue their investments in EU production, employment and innovation.

More generally, these measures allow the EU supply chain and EU consumers to have a healthy domestic EU choline chloride industry which can ensure supply stability and compliance with the highest health and safety standards. Especially in a time of geopolitical instabilities, the EU cannot afford to allow unfairly traded imports from China to make EU food and feed industries wholly dependent on Chinese suppliers.

The EU producers will continue to work closely with the European Commission and national authorities to ensure the effective implementation of these measures and to monitor any attempts to circumvent them. In this regard, the producers also welcome the recent clarifications of the customs origin rules which will help prevent circumvention of the anti-dumping measures via the placing of liquid choline chloride on a carrier in a country other than China. The origin rules now state that, for purposes of determining the origin of choline chloride products, the last substantial transformation which confers origin is the country where the chemical reaction for choline chloride between trimethylamine hydrochloride and ethylene oxide takes place. In other words, liquid choline chloride made in China and put on a carrier in a third country, e.g. Vietnam, still has Chinese origin upon importation into the EU.

About Balchem Corporation

Balchem Corporation develops, manufactures and markets specialty ingredients that improve and enhance the health and well-being of life on the planet, providing state-of-the-art solutions and the finest quality products for a range of industries worldwide. The company reports three business segments: Human Nutrition & Health; Animal Nutrition & Health; and Specialty Products. The Human Nutrition & Health segment delivers customized food and beverage ingredient systems, as well as key nutrients into a variety of applications across the food, supplement and pharmaceutical industries. The Animal Nutrition & Health segment manufactures and supplies products to numerous animal health markets. Through Specialty Products, Balchem provides specialty-packaged chemicals for use in healthcare and other industries, and also provides chelated minerals to the micronutrient agricultural market.