DINP & DOTP Plasticiser Imports CFR India (Mundra, Nhava Sheva)
Plasticisers for India's coated-fabric and cable plants, landed by the container, with a Malaysian DINP anti-dumping case and a Korean DOTP safeguard deciding the origin
India declared 33,205 t of HS 2917.33 imports in 2025, the six-digit line for dinonyl and didecyl orthophthalates that carries DINP, worth USD 37.8 million (USD 1,140 per tonne) and up 29% on 25,742 t in 2024. Malaysia supplied 29,008 t (87.4%), Korea 2,162 t, Vietnam 1,085 t and Thailand 768 t, and in January to July 2026 Malaysia's share rose to 90.6% of 25,540 t. DGTR's DINP investigation sizes the market: from April 2024 to March 2025 Indian demand was 107,855 t, Indian producers made 84,150 t and imports were 26,770 t, 79% of them Malaysian at a landed price of INR 111,088 per tonne, and artificial-leather makers told the Authority they take 29% of the DINP India consumes. Its final findings of 25 September 2026 (case AD(OI)-08/2025) recommend a five-year anti-dumping duty on DINP from Malaysia: USD 111 per tonne for the one Malaysian producer that answered the questionnaire, and USD 277 per tonne for every other Malaysian producer and for DINP of any origin shipped from Malaysia, about 10% and 24% of the USD 1,153 per tonne declared for Malaysian 2917.33 in 2026. The duty runs from the Ministry of Finance notification, and the Authority found Korean and Vietnamese DINP priced above both the Malaysian product and the domestic non-injurious price. DOTP, the non-phthalate terephthalate, has no six-digit line of its own and is declared under HS 2917.39, a wider heading: India took 82,529 t under it in 2025 (Korea 49.0%, China 24.8%, Taiwan 13.1%, Japan 5.5%) and 47,272 t in January to July 2026, half of it Korean at about USD 1,115 per tonne. Korean DOTP and DEHCH imports grew by more than 550% between 2021-22 and 2024-25 under the India-Korea CEPA preference, and on 27 May 2026 DGTR recommended a bilateral safeguard (case 22/01/2025-DGTR) that restores the full MFN customs duty on Korean product in the first year and 75% of it in the second, from the date the Ministry of Finance notifies it; no notification had been found by 1 October 2026. Other origins pay the MFN rate: 7.5% basic customs duty plus the 10% social welfare surcharge on that duty, with 18% IGST creditable to a GST-registered importer.
CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers DINP and DOTP CFR Mundra and Nhava Sheva for coated-fabric and artificial-leather plants, cable compounders, flooring and film makers and distributors that buy for their own account. Origin is chosen on duty first: DINP from Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and European producers pays the MFN rate, Malaysian DINP carries USD 111 or 277 per tonne once the duty is notified, and Korean DOTP carries the full MFN duty once the safeguard is notified, so every offer names the producer, the plant and the duty line that applies. The cargo moves in containers: about 20 t of 1 t IBCs or about 16 t of 200 kg drums per 20 ft box, or a single flexitank of up to 24,000 litres and 24,000 kg, which the Container Owners Association code allows only for liquids not regulated as dangerous goods under the IMDG Code, so the producer's safety data sheet goes with the booking. Nhava Sheva (JNPA) handled 8.17 million TEU in 2025-26, and Mundra moves boxes inland by double-stack rail (898 rakes, about 46,000 TEU, in July 2025). Each lot ships with the producer's batch certificate of analysis (ester content, Pt-Co colour, acidity, moisture and, for cable grades, volume resistivity), the safety data sheet and a certificate of origin. Send the plasticiser, the end use, the limits you test, the pack, the monthly tonnage, the discharge port or inland depot and the payment basis.
Also on this lane: DOP & DOTP Plasticisers · PVC Resin
The market in figures
- DINP imports, HS 2917.33, 2025
- 33,205 t · USD 37.8 million · USD 1,140/t (2024: 25,742 t)
- DINP origins
- 2025: Malaysia 87.4% · Korea 6.5% · Vietnam 3.3% · Thailand 2.3% · Jan–Jul 2026: 25,540 t, Malaysia 90.6%
- DINP market, Apr 2024–Mar 2025 (DGTR)
- Demand 107,855 t · Indian output 84,150 t · imports 26,770 t, Malaysia 79%
- DINP anti-dumping, final findings 25 Sep 2026
- Malaysia: USD 111/t (responding producer) · USD 277/t (all others, and any DINP shipped from Malaysia) · 5 years from MoF notification
- HS 2917.39 imports (carries DOTP)
- 2025: 82,529 t · Korea 49.0% · China 24.8% · Taiwan 13.1% · Jan–Jul 2026: 47,272 t, Korea 50.5%
- DOTP safeguard on Korea, final findings 27 May 2026
- 100% of MFN duty in year 1, 75% in year 2 · from MoF notification, none found by 1 Oct 2026
- Duty and tax, other origins
- 7.5% BCD + 10% SWS on the duty · 18% IGST, creditable
- Packs per 20 ft container
- 1 t IBCs about 20 t · 200 kg drums about 16 t · flexitank up to 24,000 L / 24,000 kg, non-dangerous liquids only
Landed values are the importing country's declared CIF, not CBIL prices.
Questions buyers ask
- Is anti-dumping duty payable on DINP imported into India?
- Not until the Ministry of Finance notifies it. DGTR's final findings of 25 September 2026 (case AD(OI)-08/2025) recommend a five-year duty on DINP from Malaysia: USD 111 per tonne for the one Malaysian producer that took part, against an invoice declaration from that producer, and USD 277 per tonne for every other Malaysian producer, with USD 277 also applying to DINP of any origin exported from Malaysia. Korea was left out at initiation because its injury margin was negative, and the Authority found Korean and Vietnamese DINP priced above both the Malaysian product and the domestic non-injurious price. The duty follows the product, not the code: DGTR names 2917 33 00 and lists 2917 32 00, 2917 34 00, 2917 39 20, 2917 39 90 and 2933 99 90 as lines DINP has also been declared under.
- Does the Korean DOTP safeguard apply to a cargo landing now?
- Only once the Ministry of Finance notifies it. DGTR recommended it in its final findings of 27 May 2026: Korean DOTP and DEHCH lose the India-Korea CEPA preference and pay 100% of the MFN customs duty in the first year and 75% of it in the second, counted from the notification. None had been found by 1 October 2026, so the importer's customs broker checks the position on the day the bill of entry is filed. DOTP from China, Taiwan, Japan and Europe is outside the measure and pays the MFN rate: 7.5% basic customs duty plus the 10% social welfare surcharge on it, with 18% IGST creditable to a GST-registered buyer.
- IBCs, drums or a flexitank for a coated-fabric or cable plant?
- A 20 ft container carries about 20 t of DINP or DOTP in 1 t IBCs or about 16 t in 200 kg drums, on producers' published packing, so a plant taking 40 t a month is two boxes of IBCs. IBCs and drums are handled by forklift and need no shore tank. A flexitank carries one lot of up to 24,000 litres and 24,000 kg per 20 ft box and is pumped out into the buyer's tank on arrival; the Container Owners Association code allows flexitanks only for liquids not regulated as dangerous goods under the IMDG Code, so the producer's safety data sheet is checked before the booking.
- DINP or DOTP: what decides it?
- The converter's formulation and its customer's market. DINP is an ortho-phthalate; DOTP is a terephthalate and not an ortho-phthalate. In the EU, REACH Annex XVII entry 52 restricts DINP, with DIDP and DNOP, to 0.1% combined only in toys and childcare articles that can be placed in the mouth, and the RoHS Directive 2015/863 limits DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIBP, not DINP, in electrical and electronic equipment from 22 July 2019. Artificial-leather makers told DGTR they take 29% of the DINP India consumes, and the duty position by origin now weighs on the choice as much as the chemistry.
- What should a buyer in India send first?
- The registered company with its IEC and GSTIN, the plasticiser and grade, the end use (coated fabric, cable, flooring, film), the limits you test (ester content, Pt-Co colour, acidity, moisture and, for cable, volume resistivity), the pack, the monthly tonnage, the discharge port or inland container depot, the delivery window and the payment basis. The offer comes back with the producer and plant named, the origin, and the duty line that origin attracts at Mundra or Nhava Sheva.