The Ethylenediamine (EDA) market in India continued to showcase bearishness in its trend for the second consecutive month in May 2025. This bearishness in the market sentiments of the commodity was witnessed due to the declining import cost from the key exporting nations- China, Saudi Arabia, the EU, and Taiwan. Therefore, despite the Kharif season in India, during which, the demand for EDA from the downstream agrochemical sector generally rises, the EDA market remained bearish.
In response to the declining prices of EDA, Balaji Speciality Chemicals Limited filed a complaint stating that the unfairly low-price imports from the key exporting nations are harming the Indian producers. Since the availability of cheaper foreign suppliers made domestic market participants hesitant to raise their quotations. Therefore, India’s trade authority, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), started an anti-dumping investigation at the end of March into whether EDA is being unfairly imported at low prices from China, the EU, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. If following the investigation, DGTR finds this to be true, then it may recommend extra duties on these imports.
Previously, DGTR asked the interested parties to submit their feedback and data for the investigation within the allotted time. However, this deadline was extended to June 10. Therefore, the combination of cheap imports and the uncertainty from the ongoing anti-dumping investigation, the prices of EDA remained downwards.
In terms of the downstream sector, the demand for EDA from the downstream agrochemical sector remained consistent amid the start of the Kharif season. This made market players increase their procurement activities to fulfill the demand for the commodity. Generally, during the Kharif season, the typically increased demand for agriculture-related products results in increased prices for that commodity. However, despite consistent demand for EDA, the overall market sentiments of EDA continued to remain bearish which is influenced by the low-cost imports from the key exporting nations along with the uncertainty created by the ongoing investigation which further weighed down the market confidence. The market confidence was impacted as the market players remained uncertain about the future prices and the potential duties that could be implied if the investigation turned out to be true.
As per ChemAnalyst, the EDA market in India is expected to remain cautious in the upcoming few weeks despite the ongoing Kharif season. Amid the ongoing anti-dumping investigation, the market players are anticipated to maintain their cautious market activities until the investigation reaches its conclusion.
