In focus: Mangalam organics hits 52-week high, Gujarat Alkalies leaps 10%

Chemical stocks jumped after the government extended anti-dumping duty on imports of caustic soda from China and Korea till November 2020 to guard domestic manufacturers

Shares of chemical producing companies including Andhra Petrochemical, Gujarata Alkalies, and Thirumalai Chemicals leaped up to 15 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday after the government extended anti-dumping duty on imports of caustic soda from China and Korea till November 2020 to guard domestic manufacturers.

"...the anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification, with respect to China and Korea, shall remain in force up to and inclusive of the 17th November, 2020, unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier," the department of revenue said in a notification issued on Monday. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) had requested for extension of the existing anti-dumping duty on the chemical imported from China and Korea.

Among individual stocks, Thirumalai Chemicals jumped 12.4 per cent to Rs 64.2 per share on the BSE. Volumes surged at the counter at around 9:38 am when the stock was quoting Rs 60 apiece. A combined 1.66 million shares have changed the counter on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report. Besides Alufluoride jumped 15 per cent, Gujarat Alkalies Chemicals (10 per cent), Andhra Petrochemicals (13.8 per cent), and TGC Sraac (9.7 per cent).

Morevoer, Mangalam Organics was locked in the 10 per cent upper circuit band at Rs 558.25 per share on the BSE, which was also its 52-week high. Other chemcials counters like Tyche Industries, Himadri Specialty Chemcial, Rossari Biotech, GHCL, Kesar Petroproducts, and Pidilite Industries were up in the range of 1.5 per cent and 5 per cent, In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was ruling 0.76 per cent higher at 38,339 level at 10:46 am. 

Analysts are bullish on the sector given the government's push towards development of indigenous industries via production linked incentives and border tension with China.

"Past couple of months has seen extremely positive news flow for the Indian Chemical industry. The focus has clearly shifted to the domestic chemical companies on the back of China plus one and anti-China sentiments in India. Indian Government too has become aggressive and has laid out policies with regards to production linked incentives. Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has introduced four schemes to incentivise production of 53 critical Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Bulk drugs and Key Starting Materials (KSMs) and medical devices, for which

India is dependent heavily on imports. We expect Indian Chemical industry to be an indirect beneficiary as it provides the basic building blocks to the pharmaceutical industry.," said analysts at B&K Securities in a report dated August 12.

They, however, believe that the government's measure to impose anti-dumping duty (ADD) on Aniline imported from China for a period of five years may impact companies manufacturing dyes and dye intermediates viz. Aarti Industries, Bodal Chemicals, and Kiri Industries as this may lead to increase in prices of aniline.