Impose anti-dumping duty on chemical from China, Malaysia, Vietnam: DGTR

The commerce ministry's investigation arm DGTR has recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty for five years on 'choline chloride', a chemical imported from China, Malaysia and Vietnam, to guard domestic players from cheap inbound shipments.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended duty in the range of USD 94 per tonne to USD 315 per tonne after conducting a probe on alleged dumping of Choline Chloride in all forms by these countries, following a complaint by a domestic manufacturer.

The chemical is used in animal feed and the oil and gas sector.

The finance ministry will take the final call to impose the levy.

Jubilant Life Sciences filed an application for imposition of anti-dumping duty on the imports from these three countries.

"The authority recommends imposition of anti-dumping duty...so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry," according to a notification of the DGTR.

It said the product has been exported to India from these countries below its normal value, resulting in dumping and due to this, the domestic industry has suffered material injury.

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 domestic 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.