ISSDA welcomes Anti-Dumping Duty imposed on imports of stainless steel Hot rolled flat products

ISSDA applauds government's decision to impose Anti Dumping Duty on Hot Rolled (HR) flat products of stainless steel Grade 304 with all its variants. The government has imposed Anti Dumping Duty on all HR flat products of stainless steel of Grade 304 originating from China at US$309/MT, Malaysia at US$ 316/MT and Korea at US$ 180/MT. "It's a welcome move and a necessary one to save the domestic industry which at the suffering end. This measure will definitely give some respite to the industry", said N. C Mathur, President - ISSDA.

The Ministry of Finance notification dated 5th June, 2015 acknowledges the findings of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping (DGAD) that HR 304 grade stainless steel flat products were being dumped from China, Korea and Malaysia. DGAD has pointed in its findings that the domestic industry has suffered both material injury in volume and pricing as a result of dumping. ISSDA reinstates its stand that domestic stainless steel industry is well equipped to produce all HR 304 grade variants and imports were result of dumping by China, Korea and Malaysia.

Apart from glut of imports from China, stainless steel industry is plagued with imports from countries like Malaysia, Korea and Japan under the Free Trade Agreement. Apart from this ISSDA has also written to the government on issue of abuse of India – Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). In this case, Cold Rolled Stainless Steel Flat rolled products from Malaysia are being imported in India through preferential tariff benefit, thereby abusing the provision related to Rules of Origin by claiming the 35% value addition criteria. Since Malaysia does not have any Hot Rolling or melting capacities 35% value addition is not possible at cold rolling stage. In this context, ISSDA has also written to Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia to probe into the misuse of CECA. ISSDA reiterates its stand that significant dumping of Cold Rolled (CR) stainless steel flat products should also be noted by the government and Anti Dumping Duty on CR stainless steel flat products should be announced by the government at the earliest.

It is important to note that domestic stainless steel industry has started showing signs of being a sick industry, as excessive imports have threatened the huge investments and resulted in underutilization of capacities. The surge in imports can be mainly attributed to China. Many stainless steel players have either approached BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) or are under CDR mechanism.

Source : Equity Bulls

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