India initiates probe against China, 5 others

Imports from South Korea, Russia, South Africa, Iran and Singapore under radar

India has started a probe into the alleged dumping of a certain kind of rubber from six countries – China, South Korea, Russia, South Africa, Iran and Singapore. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the commerce ministry, has begun investigating imports of polybutadiene rubber from these nations following a complaint from Reliance Industries.

The move is aimed at protecting domestic players in the sector against cheap imports.

In a notification, DGAD said it found sufficient prima-facie evidence of dumping of the product from China. “The authority initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping of the product... to determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which, if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry.”

The period of investigation would be the period between April 2015 and March 2016.

The product in question is mainly used in the manufacture of tyres. It is also used to manufacture golf balls, various elastic objects and to coat or encapsulate electronic assemblies, offering high electrical resistivity.

Countries start anti-dumping probes to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of World Trade Organization.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.

India had imposed an anti-dumping duty for six months on import of hot-rolled (HR) steel products from six nations, including China and South Korea, to shield domestic manufacturers.

The move had come after it extended the minimum import price (MIP) on select steel products, but removed safeguard duties from 37 others.

There were 173 products under MIP, which were cut to 66 last week. Products that had safeguard or anti dumping duties were removed from the new list. The range of prices, $341 to $752 a tonne, was not changed.

This was followed by removal of safeguard duty from another 37 products, such as flat-rolled and HR steel.

However, steel manufacturers have termed the move inadequate. The pruning of the list for MIP, the conditional safeguard duty on select products, and inadequate anti-dumping duty did not help protect against cheaper import, they stated.

The global commodity markets continue to slump, especially for steel prices, following a glut in supply from Chinese steelmakers and a drop in global demand due to low economic activity.