Government imposes anti-dumping duty on certain Chinese steel products

The Union Finance Ministry has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of certain steel wire rods from China for five years to guard interest of domestic players from cheap in-bound shipments. The duty will be difference between landed value of steel products and US $535 per tonne while for others, it should be gap between landed value and US $546 per tonne. Steel wire rod products are used in many sectors such as automotive components, railway, engineering and construction.

Background

It was imposed based on recommendations of Commerce Ministry’s Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD). In its findings, DGAD concluded that ‘wire rod of alloy or non-alloy steel’ exported from China to India is below normal value due to which domestic industry has suffered material injury. Finance Ministry
Already has slapped anti-dumping duty on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four nations, including China and South Korea.

Anti-dumping

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide level-playing field to domestic industry. They are not measure to restrict imports or cause unjustified increase in cost of products. Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if domestic industry has been hurt by surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose antidumping duties under multilateral WTO regime. In India, it is recommended by DGAD and imposed by Finance Ministry.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2017