New Delhi: Government has imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty for six months on seamless tubes, steel pipes, among others imported from China. In March, the Directorate General for Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had recommended to the Revenue Department to impose provisional levy on import of certain types of iron and steel pipes from China used in oil and gas exploration in a bid to protect the domestic industry from cheap imports.
"The Central Government... hereby imposes on the subject goods..., an anti-dumping duty at a rate which is equivalent to difference between the landed value of the subject goods...," the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a notification. The anti-dumping duty will be in the range of USD 961.33-1,610.67.
"The duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period not exceeding 6 months (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette and shall be paid in Indian currency," it said.
ISMT Ltd and Maharashtra Seamless had moved the DGAD for imposition of the duty on "seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of iron, alloy or non-alloy steel (other than cast iron and stainless steel), whether hot finished or cold drawn or cold rolled of an external diameter not exceeding 355.6 mm or 14."
They had alleged dumping of the products, originating in or exported from China, and the consequent injury to them. In its preliminary findings, DGAD said it was of the view that imposition of "provisional duty is required" to offset dumping and injury, pending completion of investigation.
"Therefore, Authority (DGAD) considers it necessary and recommends imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of subject goods from the subject country...," it said in a notification.
In July last year, the DGAD had initiated a probe into the alleged dumping, and its adverse impact on the domestic industry. The product being considered by the DGAD includes boiler pipes or line pipes used in hydrocarbon industry and casing and tubing of a kind used in drilling for oil and gas exploration.
The purpose of anti-dumping duties, in general, is to eliminate injury caused to the domestic industry by the unfair trade practices of dumping so as to re-establish a situation of open and fair competition in the market, which is in the general interest of the country.
Imposition of the duties might affect price levels of the downstream products and consequently have some influence on relative competitiveness of these products.
