Ec Asks Exporters To Give All Details In Dumping Suits

At a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry in New Delhi Yesterday, Wenig said only a minuscule 0.05 per cent of Indian exports were covered under the anti-dumping provisions of the European Commission.

He urged Indian exporters to cooperate with the Commission and provide all the required details in case there was a complaint of dumping against them.

In case of non-cooperation, the Commission will be forced to use estimates, which is not always in the best interests of the exporters, he warned.

There have been 11 cases initiated by the EU against Indian exports since 1991. Investigations into Indian cotton fabrics and polyester fabrics, which were found invalid in May 1994, have recently been formally dropped.

 

Anti-dumping duties have already been imposed on oxalic acid, polyester blended yarn and polyester staple fibre, according to commerce ministry sources.

The EU is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 32.8 per cent of imports and 25.6 per cent of exports. The two-way trade has shown an annual growth of about 30 per cent.

Wenig said dumping of commodities should be avoided as it injured the domestic economy. He pointed out that although India had reduced the peak import duty from 300 per cent to 28-30 per cent, it still compared poorly with the average duty of 3.2 per cent in the EU countries. Additional secretary to the commerce ministry T S Vijayraghavan, who heads the designated authority for anti-dumping, said the country had processed six cases of dumping this year and four were pending before the authority. Two cases