The finance ministry on 6th June 2015 imposed anti-dumping duty on certain stainless steel products imported from China, Malaysia and South Korea. N C Mathur, President Indian Stainless Steel Development Associaton (ISSDA) said the duty has been imposed on hot rolled (HR) flat products of stainless steel grade with all its variants originating from China at $309 per tonne $316 a tonne from Malaysia and from Korea at $180 a tonne.
The commerce ministry had earlier said that the home-grown stainless steel industry has sustained “material injury due to such dumped imports” and that definite measure was required to stop it.
Points to Remember
- The duty has been levied for five years, according to the finance ministry statement.
- The domestic stainless steel industry has started showing signs of being a sick industry, as excessive imports threatened the huge investments and resulted in underutilization of capacities.
What is Anti-dumping Duty?
Dumping is said to occur when the goods are exported by a country to another country at a price lower than its normal value. This is an unfair trade practice which can have a distortive effect on international trade.
Anti dumping is a measure to rectify the situation arising out of the dumping of goods and its trade distortive effect. The use of anti dumping measure as an instrument of fair competition is permitted by the WTO. In fact, anti dumping is an instrument for ensuring fair trade and is not a measure of protection per se for the domestic industry. It provides relief to the domestic industry against the injury caused by dumping.
