Ministry Initiates Probe Into Hr Coils Import From Cis Countries

The commerce ministry has initiated an anti-dumping investigation on hot rolled (HR) coils, plates, strips and sheets imports at the behest of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Essar, Tisco and Lloyds.

The steel industry has been seeking investigations into hot rolled coil imports from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries - Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhistan, charging that heavy dumping coupled with sluggish domestic demand from these nations was a major factor behind their poor performance in 1996-97.

The year 1996-97 saw industry leader the Steel Authority of India reporting a staggering 60 per cent fall in its net profit. Its total sales also dropped by 2.5 per cent.

 

Tata Steel - SAILs main private sector competitor - also declared a 17 per cent drop in its net profit.

SAIL was particularly affected by the dumping as its quality of hot rolled coils is quite similar to those produced by Commonwealth of Independent States countries.

Dumping occurs when the export price of goods imported into India is less than the price at which like goods are sold in the domestic market of the exporter.

The price at which like goods are sold in the domestic market of the exporter is referred to as the normal value of those goods. Therefore, goods are dumped if the export price is less than their normal value.

Sources said that the difference in the normal price in Russia and the price at which the coils are being imported is 40 per cent.

Imports from Russia have also gone up by 17 per cent in the last two years. As a result, domestic producers are holding large inventories and suffering heavy losses.

Industry sources said that severe losses had been suffered by the domestic producers on account of the delay caused by the ministry in initiating the probe.

Leading steel makers, including Essar and Steel Authority of India Ltd have been complaining for a while now that they are being hurt by heavy low priced imports of hot rolled coils, strips, plates and sheets from Russia.