India slaps anti-dumping duty on Chinese steel wire rods

The Centre has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap in-bound shipments.

The department of revenue in a notification on Wednesday said anti-dumping duty is being imposed for six months on the import of wire road of alloy or non-alloy steel from China.

The measure follows a commendation by the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties that steel wire road was being exported by China "below the normal value" and "the domestic industry has suffered material injury" because of such imports.

In its September 27 finding, the DGAD also stated that "the injury has been caused by the dumped imports of the subject goods" from China.

An anti-dumping duty equivalent to the difference between the landed value of steel products and USD 499 per tonne will be imposed on products exported by Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co Ltd. In case of other producers, the anti-dumping duty would be the difference between the landed value and USD 538 per tonne, the notification said.

"The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period not exceeding six months (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette and shall be paid in Indian currency," the November 2 notification said.

The 'landed value' of imports was defined as the assessable value as determined by the customs and includes all duties of customs.

Wire rod of alloy or non-alloy steel finds applications in many sectors such as automotive components, welding electrodes, fasteners, including nuts and bolts, nails, railway sleepers, general engineering, binding wires for construction industry and armoured cables.

State-owned Steel Authority of India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Usha Martin and JSW Steel had jointly filed the application to probe the dumping of these products from China.

In its findings, DGAD concluded that the product has been exported to India at "below the normal value" due to which "the domestic industry has suffered material injury".

"The authority recommends imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty... so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry," DGAD had said.

Imports of these steel products have drastically increased to 4,95,732 tonnes during the period of investigation (July-December 2015) from 1,60,582 tonnes in 2012-13.

India has already slapped anti-dumping duty on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four nations, including China and South Korea.

While the DGAD recommends the duty to be levied, the finance ministry imposes it.

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.

India has initiated maximum anti-dumping cases against "below-cost" imports from China.