The Government has imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on certain high-end stainless steel products to guard domestic industry from surges in cheap imports from China, Thailand and the US.
The Finance Ministry notified a maximum levy of USD 1,823 per tonne on import of cold-rolled flat stainless products, mainly used by the automotive industry, for a period of six months, as recommended by the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).
"The domestic industry had suffered material injury, the injury had been caused by the dumped imports from subject countries (like China, Thailand, the US, Spain, Korea and France)," it said.
The anti-dumping duty on the steel products ranges between USD 12.74 and USD 1,823.43 per tonne. The duty would be effective up to October 21, 2009.
JSL Ltd, the country's largest stainless steel maker, welcomed the move to check the surge in cheaper imports and said Indian manufacturers would be able to meet the domestic requirement for the alloy.
"This was required in the wake of surge in imports. We have enough capacity to meet the domestic requirement," said JSL LTD (earlier Jindal Stainless) Director (Corporate Affairs) N C Mathur.
Global producers, including ArcelorMittal, Posco, Acrinox and Thainox, would be affected by the measure. Besides, the EU and China, products from the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, South Africa and Thailand would be impacted by the proposed duty.
China has been opposing anti-dumping measures by India, especially in the wake of global economic downturn, leading to slowing of demand for the Chinese products. However, India has maintained that such measures are WTO-compliant and are resorted to only when there is an import surge.
At present, a tonne of cold-rolled flat stainless steel is costing over USD 19,000 in the global market.
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