On Oct. 22, the American citric acid industry asked that the U.S. Department of Commerce investigate possible “circumvention” of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on citric acid and certain citrate salts from China. The target of this initial request is the transshipment of Chinese citric acid products through Thailand.

Citric acid is a product made from crops and is used in many popular food products such as soft drinks, cheese, and baked goods.

The U.S. producers continue actively to monitor and collect information on global Chinese shipments and are gathering evidence regarding possible transshipment of Chinese citric acid products through a number of other countries, including Israel, Indonesia, India, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

In addition, the U.S. citric acid industry is monitoring imports for possible product mislabeling, including the practice of blending Chinese citric acid products with other ingredients in order to avoid duty payments.