Toxic cyanide upstream, and Europe's trade defences
Toxic cyanide upstream, and Europe's trade defences What this tab covers How it is regulated and what could disrupt supply: hazard classification, rules in the EU, US and India, anti-dumping duties and other trade measures, and supply-risk notes.
Hazards
Classification
UN number
Key risks
generally not classified
none
Low product hazard. Upstream methionine plants handle hydrogen cyanide, acrolein and methyl mercaptan, which are acutely toxic.
Main rules
Where
Rule
Effect
EU
Feed additive authorisation under Regulation 1831/2003
Each amino acid and strain must be authorised.
US
AAFCO definitions; FDA feed rules
Feed ingredient approval.
China
Export VAT rebate of 9% for lysine, threonine, valine, MSG and tryptophan (cut from 13% in 2023)
Affects export competitiveness.
India
Rule
Effect
BIS feed standards and Livestock Feed Order (indicative)
Feed quality rules
No anti-dumping duty on amino acids found in sources reached
Imports enter at standard duty
Trade measures
EU anti-dumping duty 47.7-58.2% on Chinese lysine from 12 July 2025 for five years (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1330); an anti-absorption investigation reopened on 30 April 2026 and imports have been registered since 29 July 2026 so any higher duty can be backdated (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1824)
US lysine anti-dumping petition reported under review since May 2025 (Faxian Gongchang; indicative (unverified), no US case record found)
Supply risk
China supplies about 70% of feed amino acids and over 90% of threonine capacity, so Chinese policy, power cuts or plant outages move world prices. Methionine depends on a few HCN-integrated sites.