1,4-Butanediol Trade Data to 2025, with a 2026 Monthly Update: Anti-Dumping Duties Rewrite the EU Import Map
Summary. EU27 imports of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) from outside the bloc fell to 13,002 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026, down 65.4% from 37,560 tonnes a year earlier, while the average import unit value rose to 1,497 EUR/t in June, about 46% above the 2025 average. The switch follows EU anti-dumping action against BDO from China, Saudi Arabia and the United States: provisional duties took effect on 6 February 2026 and definitive duties followed on 24 June 2026. Those three origins supplied 90.3% of extra-EU BDO imports in 2025; by July 2026 Chinese shipments were zero and Taiwan supplied essentially 100% of reported volume.
Data updated: 2026-10-14
Latest 12 months: monthly EU27 import and export volumes
The table covers August 2025 to July 2026 — the most recent complete window from Eurostat Comext, which reports monthly extra-EU trade through July 2026 — and combines the two eight-digit codes named in the EU anti-dumping regulation for BDO: CN 2905 39 26 and CN 2905 39 28. The latest two months are provisional.
| Month | Imports (t) | Import value (m EUR) | Import unit value (EUR/t) | Exports (t) | Export value (m EUR) | Export unit value (EUR/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08 | 7,425.9 | 7.50 | 1,010 | 426.1 | 0.61 | 1,433 |
| 2025-09 | 9,404.5 | 9.76 | 1,038 | 151.1 | 0.29 | 1,891 |
| 2025-10 | 9,812.8 | 10.05 | 1,024 | 236.5 | 0.38 | 1,612 |
| 2025-11 | 6,358.8 | 6.60 | 1,038 | 159.4 | 0.27 | 1,673 |
| 2025-12 | 6,899.2 | 6.84 | 991 | 31.6 | 0.17 | 5,545 |
| 2026-01 | 5,742.7 | 7.01 | 1,221 | 124.7 | 0.24 | 1,891 |
| 2026-02 | 8,129.1 | 8.56 | 1,053 | 102.6 | 0.21 | 2,081 |
| 2026-03 | 999.9 | 1.20 | 1,201 | 126.0 | 0.28 | 2,216 |
| 2026-04 | 4,735.6 | 5.72 | 1,207 | 105.7 | 0.27 | 2,588 |
| 2026-05 | 5,997.6 | 7.94 | 1,324 | 55.2 | 0.15 | 2,699 |
| 2026-06 | 2,268.8 | 3.40 | 1,497 | 94.3 | 0.26 | 2,739 |
| 2026-07 | 2,402.1 | 3.63 | 1,512 | 91.6 | 0.29 | 3,151 |
Source: Eurostat Comext DS-045409, EU27_2020 as reporter, extra-EU partners, product CN 2905 39 26 + 2905 39 28. Import/export unit values are value divided by net weight, calculated from the same dataset.
Two features stand out. First, volume: twelve-month imports totalled 70,177 t, but the distribution is uneven — the six months from August 2025 to January 2026 averaged 7,607 t per month against 4,089 t for February–July 2026, a fall of 46.3%; March 2026 printed only 1,000 t. Second, price: the average unit value rose from 1,046 EUR/t in the first window to 1,241 EUR/t in the second, reaching 1,512 EUR/t by July 2026.
The policy sequence behind the 2026 break
The break maps onto a trade-defence timeline: initiation of the anti-dumping proceeding on 6 June 2025 (Notice C/2025/3135); registration of imports from 7 August 2025 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1718), which allows retroactive collection on registered volumes; provisional duties of 113.7% — 105.6–107.5% for named companies — from 6 February 2026 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/270); and definitive duties on 24 June 2026 of 105.6–113.7% (China), 52.4% (Saudi Arabia) and 135.7–142.5% (United States).
The regulation defines the product by CAS number 110-63-4 / EC number 203-786-5 and classifies it under CN codes 2905 39 26 and 2905 39 28 — the same two codes used in the tables in this article, which is why the Comext series can be read as a close proxy for the product under measure. The Commission states that the EU industry producing BDO is located in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, and that the three investigated origins supplied BDO worth EUR 140 million in 2024 (see the data limitations note below regarding that figure).
Where the tonnes went: the origin switch
The monthly origin breakdown is the clearest evidence that duties, rather than demand, drove the volume change. In January 2026 China supplied 2,510 t (43.7% of extra-EU imports) and the United States effectively nothing; by April 2026 China supplied 66 t (1.4%) and Taiwan 4,117 t (86.9%); by July 2026 China supplied zero and Taiwan 2,402 t, or 100.0% of the reported total.
| Month | China (t) | Saudi Arabia (t) | United States (t) | Taiwan (t) | Total extra-EU (t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08 | 2,008.6 | 2,537.0 | 2,001.8 | 333.4 | 7,425.9 |
| 2025-09 | 3,251.7 | 3,122.7 | 1,643.7 | 96.3 | 9,404.5 |
| 2025-10 | 3,323.1 | 3,322.0 | 2,363.3 | 456.1 | 9,812.8 |
| 2025-11 | 2,093.4 | 1,866.7 | 1,147.6 | 228.3 | 6,358.8 |
| 2025-12 | 1,322.3 | 4,813.5 | 0.0 | 545.3 | 6,899.2 |
| 2026-01 | 2,509.6 | 1,759.7 | 0.1 | 1,092.1 | 5,742.7 |
| 2026-02 | 3,350.7 | 1,746.7 | 0.0 | 2,877.9 | 8,129.1 |
| 2026-03 | 18.0 | 453.6 | 0.0 | 329.9 | 999.9 |
| 2026-04 | 66.4 | 552.2 | 0.2 | 4,116.7 | 4,735.6 |
| 2026-05 | 69.7 | 226.9 | 0.1 | 5,700.2 | 5,997.6 |
| 2026-06 | 48.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2,217.9 | 2,268.8 |
| 2026-07 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2,401.9 | 2,402.1 |
Source: Eurostat Comext DS-045409, EU27_2020 as reporter, extra-EU partner detail. Small residual volumes from other origins are omitted.
Analysis / outlook. Two patterns deserve separating from the data. First, February 2026 volume of 8,129 t was the highest month since July 2025 — consistent with importers pulling deliveries forward ahead of the 6 February duty and with the retroactive exposure created by the August 2025 registration; monthly data cannot split the pre- and post-duty days of February, so this is an interpretation, not a measured effect. Second, substitution was fast: Taiwan went from a 1–5% supplier through most of 2025 to 100% of reported volume by July 2026. Customs record consignment, not production, so that shift needs checking against Taiwanese export statistics and capacity data before it is read as new capacity.
Price signal: unit values converge on the Taiwanese origin
Unit values track the origin switch closely: Chinese-origin material entered at 1,031–1,074 EUR/t for most of 2025, while Taiwanese material averaged 1,130–1,215 EUR/t over the same period, then 1,305, 1,496 and 1,512 EUR/t in May, June and July 2026. With Taiwan at 97.8% of June and 100.0% of July volume, the aggregate unit value in those months is effectively the Taiwanese price.
On the export side, EU27 extra-EU BDO exports are small — 2,686 t for all of 2025 — but their unit value rose from 2,081 EUR/t in February 2026 to 3,151 EUR/t in July 2026. Analysis / outlook. Export and import unit values rising together is consistent with a duty-driven domestic price floor, since sellers price from the same merchant market; a mix shift toward higher-value grades would produce the same signal, and customs data alone cannot separate the two.
Annual backdrop: 2019–2025
| Year | Imports (t) | Import value (m EUR) | Unit value (EUR/t) | China + Saudi Arabia + USA (t) | Their share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 46,254.5 | 63.14 | 1,365 | 30,917.1 | 66.8% |
| 2020 | 32,847.6 | 35.75 | 1,088 | 26,541.2 | 80.8% |
| 2021 | 54,384.8 | 136.77 | 2,515 | 48,818.0 | 89.8% |
| 2022 | 88,780.9 | 331.13 | 3,730 | 69,062.1 | 77.8% |
| 2023 | 119,376.0 | 228.58 | 1,915 | 104,482.8 | 87.5% |
| 2024 | 97,581.8 | 121.29 | 1,243 | 89,030.5 | 91.2% |
| 2025 | 117,279.3 | 120.33 | 1,026 | 105,930.6 | 90.3% |
Source: Eurostat Comext DS-045409 annual data, EU27_2020 reporter, extra-EU partners, CN 2905 39 26 + CN 2905 39 28.
The annual series shows why the EU industry had a case: 2025 import volumes were the second highest on record at 117,279 t, close to the 2023 peak of 119,376 t, yet the import bill fell to EUR 120.3 million from EUR 331.1 million in 2022 as the average unit value dropped from 3,730 EUR/t to 1,026 EUR/t. Some 90.3% of those 2025 tonnes came from the three countries now under definitive duties.
Global supply base: what the exporters shipped
UN Comtrade annual data for HS 290539 — the six-digit bucket containing BDO but also other diols such as neopentyl glycol — puts China’s exports at 294,782 t in 2025, level with 300,065 t in 2024 after a roughly five-fold rise from 52,951 t in 2020. Chinese Taipei’s 2025 annual record is not reported in the public preview interface and appears as n/r.
| Exporting economy | 2020 (t) | 2024 (t) | 2025 (t) | 2025 unit value (USD/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 52,951 | 300,065 | 294,782 | 1,547 |
| United States | 146,734 | 168,328 | 142,141 | 2,211 |
| Saudi Arabia | 52,304 | 12,637 | 51,802 | 1,077 |
| Chinese Taipei | 194,403 | 96,563 | n/r | n/r |
| Rep. of Korea | 143,447 | 101,966 | 99,037 | 1,441 |
Source: UN Comtrade annual exports, HS 290539 (diols other than ethylene glycol and propylene glycol), world partner. Unit value = primaryValue / (netWgt/1000). n/r = net weight not reported, so no unit value is calculated.
Analysis / outlook. These totals point to reallocation rather than reduced output: Chinese exports of the bucket were still near record levels in 2025 while shipments into the EU fell to zero by July 2026. The monthly channel gives one cross-market check — India reported imports of the same bucket at 5,068 t in April 2026, 5,173 t in May and 2,802 t in June, with unit values rising from 1,349 to 2,475 USD/t, the same direction as the EU on a much smaller base. Confirming reallocation would need partner-level export detail, which was not used here.
What this means for buyers and specifiers
Analysis / outlook. Three practical consequences for procurement and formulation teams. First, the measure is a duty, not a ban: Chinese material can still enter at 105.6–113.7% of the free-at-frontier price, which in practice prices it out of the merchant market. Second, single-origin dependence has moved rather than disappeared — the extra-EU supply base effectively narrowed to Taiwan in mid-2026, so qualifying a second source is again a live risk item. Third, BDO is the feedstock for PBT, PBAT, polyurethane, saturated polyester, THF, NMP, thermoplastic copolyester and gamma-butyrolactone, so a persistent EU import price above 1,500 EUR/t feeds into every one of those cost stacks.
On the demand side, the biodegradable polyester segment that consumes BDO through PBAT and PBS is still building out: European Bioplastics and the nova-Institute put global biobased plastics capacity at 2.31 million tonnes in 2025, heading for about 4.69 million tonnes by 2030, at 72% utilisation in 2025. That supports BDO demand globally, but no public source reviewed here shows announced EU BDO capacity additions that would close the 2026 gap.
Related PetroApex coverage
- 1,4-Butanediol market analysis — product definition, specifications and trade data for BDO itself.
- Maleic anhydride market analysis — one of the principal BDO precursors (hydrogenation route).
- Butadiene market analysis — the C4 feedstock route to BDO via 1,4-diacetoxybutane chemistry.
- Propylene oxide market analysis — alternative BDO route and a shared polyurethane chain.
Data sources
- European Commission, DG Trade — Commission imposes anti-dumping duties on imports of BDO from three countries (24 June 2026). Definitive rates, EU industry locations, downstream applications, 2024 import value.
- Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department, Commercial Information Circular No. 475/2025 — Initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding on imports of 1,4-Butanediol (6 June 2025).
- Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department, Commercial Information Circular No. 679/2025 — Making imports of 1,4-Butanediol subject to registration (6 August 2025).
- Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department, Commercial Information Circular No. 133/2026 — Provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of 1,4-Butanediol (5 February 2026). Product CN codes, 113.7% rate, effective date.
- Eurostat Comext database, dataset DS-045409 (EU trade since 1988 by HS/CN) — database access; the monthly and annual series used here are reproducible from the Comext dissemination API.
- European Bioplastics / nova-Institute — Bioplastics market development update 2025. Capacity and utilisation figures for biobased plastics.
- UN Comtrade — public preview API, annual exports of HS 290539 (query for the United States shown as the example); portal at comtradeplus.un.org.
Data limitations
- Product scope: CN 2905 39 26 and 2905 39 28 are the codes named in the EU regulation for BDO, so the Comext figures are product-specific. The Comtrade series, by contrast, is the wider HS 290539 bucket and is labelled as such.
- Revision status: Comext monthly data through July 2026 are the latest available; recent months are revised as member states re-file.
- Vintage difference: the Commission’s press release states EUR 140 million of BDO imports from the three investigated countries in 2024; the current Comext vintage for the same origins and codes gives EUR 110.2 million. This article uses Comext throughout for internal consistency and flags the gap as an open item.
- Origin attribution: customs data record the country of consignment, not where the molecule was made. Taiwan’s rise to 97.8–100.0% of extra-EU volume in June–July 2026 is a customs-record fact, not evidence of matching Taiwanese capacity.
- No forecast or interpolation: every figure here is a reported customs value, a reported net weight, or the ratio of the two.
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