Govt imposes anti-subsidy duty on copper wire rods import from 4 nations

DGTR has recommended imposition of the duty on the imports of 'continuous cast copper wire rods' from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam

India has imposed anti-subsidy duty for a period of five years on copper wire rods from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam after concluding a probe that these imports have impacted domestic players.

In a notification, the finance ministry said that it has imposed the anti-subsidy or countervailing duty after considering the final findings of the commerce ministry's investigating arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).

DGTR has recommended imposition of the duty on the imports of 'continuous cast copper wire rods' from these four countries.

"The countervailing duty imposed under this notification shall be levied for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier)...," the notification said.

In its probe, the DGTR had concluded that the products have been exported to India from these countries at subsidised prices.

Last year, domestic players had filed an application before the directorate stating alleged subsidisation of the products from these four nations, and requested the initiation of an anti-subsidy investigation.

It had stated that the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to subsidisation of the product and the injury has been caused by the subsidised imports of the goods originating in or exported from these countries.

The duty imposed was in the range between 2.47 per cent and 10.27 per cent on the landed value of the product in India.

The petitioners had alleged that the producers/exporters of the goods in these countries have benefitted from the "actionable subsidies" provided at various levels by the governments of these countries.

Countervailing or anti-subsidy duty is a country-specific duty which is imposed to safeguard domestic industry against unfair trade subsidies provided by the local governments of the exporting nations.