Antidumping probe initiated against 3 Chinese products

Antidumping probe initiated against 3 Chinese products

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context: India has suo motu initiated anti-dumping investigations on as many as three different products from China in the last few days as part of its overall effort to guard MSME units against the onslaught of cheap imports from neighbouring countries.

Details :

• The three products are telescopic channel drawer sliders, fasteners and unframed glass mirrors.
• Three separate notifications have been initiated by the Director General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for suo motu initiation of anti-dumping probe. This follows on the heels of India initiating anti-dumping probe on sulphur black and certain vacuum flasks from China.
• Move intended to protect MSME units from Chinese imports onslaught
• Industry observers noted that this is probably the first time India had initiated suo motu anti-dumping investigations on three different products at the same time.
• In 2022-23, nearly 72 percent of Indian demand of 1.10 lakh tonnes was accounted for by imports from China.
• In the case of fasteners, Apt Tools and Machinery along with Northern Screw Association filed a representation before DGTR seeking anti-dumping duty on nuts, bolts and screws from China. Most of the domestic producers are MSME units.
• In 2022-23, India’s merchandise trade deficit with China stood at $83 billion.
• It maybe recalled that the anti-dumping directorate’s first ever suo motu investigation was in the year 2000 on dry batteries from China. Duties were imposed on dry batteries for a period of five years.

Concept

• Anti-dumping duties are imposed when it is conclusively proved that a particular item is being exported at a price lower than what is prevailing in the domestic market of the exporter and is leading to disruption in the domestic market, injuring the local producers
• An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value.
• Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges in its own home market.
• The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.
• The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as Directorate General of Trade Remedies, in India.
• The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime