India initiates anti-dumping probe on synthetic rubber imports from 5 countries

Directorate General of Anti-dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD) - under the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry – has started anti-dumping duty investigation concerning imports of polybutadiene rubber (PBR), a synthetic rubber, originating in or exported from Korea PR, Russia, South Africa, Iran and Singapore, following a complaint from Reliance Industries.

In its petition filed before DGAD, Reliance Industries Limited, the sole producer of PBR in India, has claimed that domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the alleged dumping of polybutadiene rubber from the concerned countries.

“The authority considers that there is sufficient prima facie evidence of injury being suffered by the domestic industry due to the dumping of the product from the subject countries,” said DGAD in a statement.

The authority will now investigate alleged dumping of PBR from these countries and also determine the extent of injury caused by it on the domestic industry, following which the authority will recommend the amount of antidumping duty on the product.

DGAD will investigate for the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016. However, to determine the extent of injury, the authority will analyse the data of previous three years - ie April 2012 to March 2013, April 2013 to March 2014, & April 2014 to March 2015 - and the period of investigation.

PBR is a synthetic rubber that is a polymer formed from the polymerisation of the monomer 1,3-butadiene. Polybutadiene has a high resistance to wear and is used especially in the manufacture of tyres, which consumes about 70-80 percent of the PBR produced in India. Another 20 percent is used as an additive to improve the mechanical strength of plastics such as polystyrene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). It is also used to manufacture golf balls, various elastic objects and to coat or encapsulate electronic assemblies, offering high electrical resistivity.