On December 13, 2024, Cargill filed an application with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to initiate an anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigation into erythitol products originating in China. The cases are numbered A-570-192 (Anti-dumping) and C-570-193 (countervailing duty). Cargill believes that the level of dumping of erythritol from China in the U.S. market is as high as 270.00% to 450.64%. Erythritol, a low-calorie sweetener used in various food and beverage products, has been widely used in recent years with the rise of health drinks, with the total production capacity of erythritol in China exceeding 380,000 tons by 2023. The main production enterprises include Sanyuan Biology, Baoling Bao, Huakang shares and so on. Among them, Sanyuan Biological has an annual production capacity of 135,000 tons, making it the largest erythritol manufacturer in China. Cargill Corporation, a multinational company headquartered in Minnesota, USA, was founded in 1865 and is one of the world's largest privately held companies and a well-known global food giant. Cargill claims that its Erythritol manufacturing facility in the United States is the only erythritol manufacturing facility in the United States and the entire Western Hemisphere. Cargill's Erythritol product, called Zerose? Erythritol, has a designed capacity of approximately 30,000 tons per year. A total of 14,000 tons of erythritol were imported from the United States in the January-September period of 2024, and almost all of the erythritol imported into the United States comes from China, which is in direct conflict with Cargill products. Cargill has accused nearly 100 Chinese exporters of erythritol, including Sanyuan Bio, Bowling Bao and Huakang, and more than 100 distributors.

This is not the first time that domestic erythritol has encountered such a crisis, on November 21, 2023, at the request of the EU erythritol production industry, the European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation on imports of erythritol from China, and was eventually forced to increase taxes by 31.9% to 235.6%. Related reading: Domestic erythroitol tax increase 31.9% to 235.6% According to the normal process, the United States Department of Commerce will make a preliminary ruling during March to May next year, once the ruling is positive, it will immediately take interim measures, the Ministry of Commerce may require importers to pay the corresponding security deposit or other forms of guarantee in accordance with the expected countervailing tax rate when importing. A final ruling is expected by the end of 2025 and early 2026. At present, Sanyuan Biology has announced the establishment of a project working group to actively respond to the "double reverse" investigation. Baolingbao has not yet made a specific response, but it has released an announcement on the construction of overseas production bases for foreign investment, and intends to establish a wholly-owned or holding project company BLB USA INC in the United States by increasing capital to a wholly-owned subsidiary by no more than 62,180.17 million yuan (about 85 million US dollars). Invest in the construction of functional sugar (alcohol) projects in the United States to meet the growing order demand of international customers.

The construction of this project includes the purchase of land in the United States, the construction of plants, installation of equipment, etc. The project is planned to complete construction and production within 36 months, and is expected to add 30,000 tons of functional sugar (alcohol) capacity per year after the completion of the project. With Trump coming to power and global trade tends to be conservative, in order to ensure stable supply, reduce tariffs and other international trade policy risks, simple products to go to sea is no longer enough, increase the development of emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, South America, etc., product diversification and production capacity diversification may become the only way.