India leads tally of anti-dumping cases: WTO

India topped the table of the countries resorting to anti-dumping investigations between July and December 2008, while Brazil, China and Argentina were other major users of the WTO-compliant trade remedy to protect their domestic industries against cheap imports.

Of the total 120 new anti-dumping investigations in the second-half of calendar 2008, India accounted for 42 cases, a report on the trade policy reviews by the World Trade Organisation has said.

With the global trade volume expected to contract nine per cent in 2009, countries are likely to resort to increased level of protection of their domestic markets in the midst of recession in world's major economies.

"The increase in initiations of anti-dumping investigations looks set to continue in 2009...," WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said.

The second-half saw more anti-dumping initiatives than the January-June period of 2008, the report found. The world economies came under increased recessionary pressures since September last.

The total number of investigations increased by 27 per cent to 207 in 2008 as compared to 2007.

The other main users of anti-dumping, measured by investigations initiated, were Turkey and the European Communities, while the main targets of anti-dumping investigations were China, the European Communities and the United States, the WTO report said.

"The main risk (to global trade) is that the governments will continue to give way to protectionist pressures, even if only gradually and temporarily, as long as the global economic situation continues to deteriorate. This would affect all countries," Lamy said.

He said the developing countries, reliant on exports to drive growth, would be the hardest hit should governments move to restrict trade as a way of surviving the global crisis.

China initiated 11 anti-dumping probes while Brazil had 16 such cases.