The commerce ministry has recommended the imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of thermal-sensitive paper from China.
Based on the findings of the directorate-general of anti-dumping and allied duties (DGAD), the ministry has proposed the imposition of a $0.967 per kg duty on imports of thermal-sensitive paper from China.
Thermal-sensitive paper is a paper coated with a special mix of chemicals, and is used in fax machines, ECG machines and other medical equipment, seismographic machines, airline baggage tagging, tickets, boarding cards etc. Investigations into imports of thermal-sensitive paper from China were launched in response to a petition filed by Shree Krishna Paper Mills, the only company to produce the paper in India.
More From This Section
The designate authority has observed, while the capacity utilisation of the domestic industry increased from 53.74 per cent in 1999-2000 to 72.95 per cent during the period of investigation, along with an increase in production, it has been deprived of a higher capacity utilisation due to dumped imports.
Imports from China grew from zero to 11.08 per cent of the total imports of thermal-sensitive paper in the span of a year. The authority holds that the substantial increase in imports at dumped price has led to severe price undercutting and price suppression by the domestic industry, resulting in the building up of an inventory of finished goods.