The government may impose an anti-dumping duty for five years on certain type of steel products from few countries, including Japan and Korea, to guard domestic players from cheap imports as the Commerce Ministry has recommended for the same.
According to a notification by the ministry's investigation arm DGTR, the duty "is recommended to be imposed for five years" on imports of 'Flat Rolled Products of Stainless Steel' from regions including European Union, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
The duty recommended by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) ranges between USD 67 per tonne to USD 944 per tonne. The Finance Ministry takes the final call to impose the duty.
The DGTR suggested the imposition of these duties after conducting investigation about alleged dumping by these countries.
In its final findings after concluding the probe, the directorate concluded that "the product has been exported to India" from these countries "below its normal value", which led to dumping of the product.
"The domestic industry has suffered material injury," the notification said.
The DGTR conducted the probe following complaints by domestic manufacturers.
In international trade parlance, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market.
Dumping impacts the price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of manufacturing firms According to global trade norms, a country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products to provide a level-playing field to domestic manufacturers. The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as DGTR in India The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime.
The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.
