Ispat Planning To Move Wto Over Dumping Duty

Ispat Industries, the worst hit by US anti-dumping duty, will file an appeal with the court of World Trade Organisation (WTO). Confirming the development, Pramod Mittal, vice chairman and managing director, said, "We are in discussions at present and a final strategy will evolve shortly." When asked whether all the steel companies would fight together, Mittal said, "We will fight again together. We are exploring all the options."

When the preliminary anti-dumping duty was imposed, the steel majors teamed up to fight the case. Mittal clarified that while the aggrieved companies cannot file an appeal with the US commerce department before a year, the WTO court is "always open for justice."

 

The move by Indian steel manufacturers is in response to restrictions imposed on exports to the US recently. The US commerce department recently found India and eight other countries guilty of dumping hot-rolled products in the US and confirmed anti-dumping duties on Indian steel producers -- Essar Steel, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Tata Steel, JVSL apart from Ispat Industries.

Ispat has been the worst hit with a final duty of 43.04 per cent, while a duty of 29.53 per cent has been imposed against Essar Steel. It is understood that the weighted average final duty imposed on JVSL, Tata Steel and SAIL was 33.17 per cent. The levies are expected to be in force for five years.

Of a total export of 1.3 million tonne HR coils, last year, India exported around 9 lakh tonne HR coils to the US which translated to $265 million in value terms.

Mittal pointed out that the US department of commerce made a mistake in calculation. "They have considered the import duty under the EPCG scheme as subsidy." As per WTO norms, if products are sold at a price less than that prevailing in the home country, it attracts antidumping duty.

However, the Ispat chief said the company exports to 20 other countries including Latin America and Africa, but, for now Ispat will undertake conversion of the hot rolled products to GP sheets and then export them.

The investigations against the Indian steel exporters were initiated by four US mills--Nucor, Steel dynamics, Ipsco and Gallatin Steel. They were later joined by US Steel, Bethlehem Steel, National Steel, LTV Steel and Weirton Steel. US consumes around 36 million tonne of HRC against its production of 25 million tonne.