Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical exports will continue to grow in 2011, even as Turkey and Pakistan investigate some products for possible violations of antidumping rules, a Saudi industry official said.

Demand in Asia for Saudi petrochemicals exceeded the available supply in the fourth quarter of 2010 and will continue to do so in the first quarter of this year, Abdul-Rahman al- Zamil, the head of the country’s Export Development Center, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The Riyadh-based center promotes the country’s non-oil exports.

India imposed a 6.5 percent anti-dumping duty in November on polypropylene exported by Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and two other Saudi Arabian companies because it believes they benefit unfairly from government subsidies. China decided in November, after a yearlong investigation, not to impose antidumping duties on Saudi shipments of methanol.

“Exports to Asia are booming,” al-Zamil said. “Even India is increasing its demand despite the anti-dumping tariff it applied on polypropylene.”
Al-Zamil declined to identify the type or manufacturers of petrochemicals that have attracted scrutiny from authorities in Turkey in Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of trade for Technical Affairs, Mohammed al-Kathiri, said at a conference in Riyadh on Jan. 8 that his ministry is negotiating with India, China, Turkey, and Pakistan to end all anti-dumping claims against Saudi exporters. India is the only country among the four to have imposed anti-dumping duties, al-Zamil said.

Saudi exports of petrochemicals, plastics and other non-oil products to Asian countries jumped by 9.8 percent to 3.57 billion riyals in November. It was the biggest month-to- month increase in non-oil exports to Asia since March, according to data that the Department of Statistics and Information posted on its website on Jan. 10.