Govt may impose antidumping duty on phenol from Korea, EU

Government is expected to impose anti-dumping duty of up to USD 253 per tonne on import of phenol from EU, Korea and Singapore, a move aimed at guarding the domestic industry from cheap in-bound shipments.
Phenol is used in the manufacture of products like laminates, plywood, particle board and pharmaceuticals.
The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has concluded that the product has been exported to India from these countries "below its associated normal value, thus, resulting in dumping of the product".
The findings also said that the performance of the domestic industry has deteriorated in respect of production, capacity utilisation, domestic sales, market share, profits, cash flow, return on investment, productivity and inventories.

"The authority (DGAD) considers it necessary to recommend imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on (the) imports," the commerce ministry said in a notification.
DGAD, the nodal agency under the Commerce Ministry for such investigations, has recommended an anti-dumping duty in the range of USD 77.19 per tonne and USD 253.06 per tonne.

Imports of phenol from these countries have increased to 84,112 tonne in 2013-14 from 15,441 tonne in 2009-10.
While DGAD recommends the duty, the Finance Ministry imposes it.
Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a surge in below-cost imports.
As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.