Paper mills seek dumping duty

India has 15.2 million tonnes of paper and newsprint manufacturing capacity

Paper mills have urged the government to impose anti-dumping duty on imports of paper and newsprint to protect the local industry.

India imported 3 million tonnes of paper and newsprint in 2016-17, up from 2.61 million tonnes a year ago. In value terms, imports rose from Rs 12,284 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 13,937 crore a year later.

Imports from ASEAN countries have grown at 24.54 per cent a year to 344,700 tonnes in 2016-17.

"The conventional markets for Chinese and Indonesian exporters are the US and the EU. In both these markets anti-dumping or anti-subsidy tariffs have been imposed on import of