Unfazed by a World Bank report highlighting India as the most active nation in anti-dumping measures, the Commerce Ministry has recommended levying such a duty on import of stainless steel from China, the European Union and six other countries.
Acting on a petition by Jindal Stainless Ltd, the pre-dominant domestic producer of stainless steel, the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties has recommended a maximum levy of $1,823 per tonne on import of cold-rolled flat stainless product from China, officials said.
The level of such duty on the product, mainly used by the automotive industry, varies from country-to-country and the imports from China would be subjected to a maximum level, once the Finance Ministry approves the findings of the directorate.
Global producers, including ArcelorMittal, Posco, Acrinox and Thainox, would be affected by the measure. Besides EU and China, products from the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, South Africa and Thailand would be impacted by the proposed duty.
Concerned over an increased level of protectionism, the World Bank has found India to be the most active in initiating anti-dumping measures against imports affecting 19 countries.
The user industry too is upset over the move stating it would lead to closure of hundreds of processing units, which manufacture and export high grade stainless steel products, due to high raw material costs.
"Putting roadblocks to imports of value-added stainless steel products will create monopoly of low quality items and deprive the export-oriented units of a competitive edge," Process Plant and Machinery Association of India Secretary V P Ramchandran said.
China has also been opposing anti-dumping measures by India, especially in the wake of global downturn marking slowdown in 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 $19,000 in the global market.
In its finding, the directorate stated that the eight countries against which a provisional anti-dumping duty has been proposed exported the product below normal value.
"The domestic industry has suffered material injury, which has been caused by the dumped imports from subject countries," it said in its findings.
