Union Government slaps anti-dumping duty on stainless steel
57% levy for cold-rolled flat products from China; 53% on those from EU
Union Government has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of cold-rolled flat products of stainless steel for 5 years from 7 countries.
The government’s decision comes on the recommendation of Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) in the wake of rising incidence of dumping.
It was hampering the performance of domestic industry and with steel prices on a decline.
These countries are China, South Korea, United States, South Africa, Thailand and Taiwan and the European Union.
- The highest duty has been imposed on steel imports from China at 57.39 per cent, followed by EU at 52.56 per cent.
- Imports from Thailand will have the least duty imposed at 4.58 per cent.
Earlier in September 2015 Government had imposed 20 per cent provisional safeguard duty on a specific hot-rolled imported steel product.
Anti-dumping duty:
It is counter import measure used by a country under the multilateral World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime to protect its domestic producers and market from below-cost/cheap imports. It varies from product to product and from country to country.
- The Centre imposed an anti-dumping duty ranging from five to 57 per cent on import of cold-rolled flat products of stainless steel for five years.
- A review with regard to the imports of cold rolled flat products of stainless steel was initiated in April 2014, the notification noted.
- China, the world’s largest consumer and producer of the commodity, has been dumping various grades and varieties of steel across the globe on the back of surplus supply. This might be the why China attracted the highest anti-dumping duty.
- The government’s decision comes in the wake of rising incidence of dumping hampering the performance of domestic industry and with steel prices on a decline.
- The total production of stainless steel in India stood at three million tonnes (mt) in 2013-14 from 0.5 mt in 1994-95, according to the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association.
- “We do not see much benefit for most large primary steel producers from this duty imposition as most producers are not into stainless steel production in any big way,” said an analyst with a local brokerage. Among listed companies, Jindal Stainless and Steel Authority of India has presence in the stainless steel segment.
- Since the past few months, the government has taken several steps to curtail cheap steel imports into India. It has already levied customs duty on select steel products; in September, it imposed 20 per cent provisional safeguard duty on a specific hot-rolled imported steel product, for which domestic steel producers are seeking an extension.