The government is expected to impose anti-dumping duty of up to USD 127 per tonne on a chemical, used in flavours and fragrance industry, originating from six countries, including the US and the EU.
The move is aimed at protecting the domestic industry from cheap in-bound shipments from the six countries - European Union, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and the US.
The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) during its investigation has concluded that "2-Ethyl Hexanol" have entered the Indian market from these countries at prices "less than their normal values".
The domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the dumping, it said in a notification.
"The authority (DGAD) considers it necessary and appropriate to recommend imposition of definitive duties duty on imports" of the chemical, it added.
DGAD, the nodal agency under the Commerce Ministry for such investigations, has recommended the anti-dumping duty in the range of USD 15.55 per tonne and USD 127.82 per tonne.
Imports of the chemical from these six countries have increased considerably to 1,13,261 tonnes during the period of investigation (April 2013 to June 2014) from 16,539 tonnes in 2010-11.
While DGAD recommends the duty, the Finance Ministry imposes it.
Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.
Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.
