India may impose anti-dumping duty on steel products from EU, Japan, US

India may impose anti-dumping duty on imports of certain steel products from the European Union, Japan, the US and Korea for five years with a view to guard domestic players from cheap imports from these countries.

JSW Vallabh Tinplate Pvt Ltd and The Tinplate Company of India Ltd have filed the application for imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of coated/plated tin mill flat-rolled steel products.

After conducting a probe, the commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended imposition of the anti-dumping duty on the product from these countries.

The duty recommended is in the range of $222 per tonne to $334 per tonne.

"The authority recommends imposition of anti-dumping duty equal to the lesser of the margin of dumping and the margin of injury, so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry. Accordingly, definitive anti-dumping duty...is recommended to be imposed for five years...," the DGTR said in a notification.

The directorate said in its probe, it has concluded that the product has been exported to India from these nations below its associated normal value, which has resulted in dumping and in turn impacting the domestic industry. The product is generally used for versatile packaging solutions for food and non-food goods like paints, chemicals, and batteries.

In international trade parlance, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market. Dumping impacts the price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of manufacturing firms.

According to global trade norms, a country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products to provide a level-playing field to domestic manufacturers. The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as DGTR, in India.

The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime.

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.