The steel ministry has written to the North Block, seeking early implementation of anti-dumping duties on a slew of steel products, as recommended by the directorate general of anti-dumping and allied duties (DGAD), given the material injury caused to domestic steel firms from imports.
Back in April, DGAD had suggested that the effective duty for 36 CR flat products would be the difference between the reference rate of $576/tonne and the landed value of the product, provided the landed value is lesser than $576 per tonne.
For 71 tariff lines of HR products, the rates would be the difference between $478-$561/tonne and the landed value of such products. The delay has prompted the steel ministry to take up the matter with the finance ministry. In a letter to the revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia, steel secretary Aruna Sharma has written, “Since the provisional (anti-dumping) duty has apparently expired, the relevant custom notifications by CBEC, on the final duties announced by DGAD may be expedited at the earliest.”
Domestic steel firms have now started apprehending some surge in imports in the coming days if customs notifications are delayed further. A section of the industry was already not happy with the DGAD’s proposal to prune the reference rate for flat CR products arguing that the move would not help it much since the landed price of such products now is in the range of $580-585 per tonne. However, they welcome the proposed reference rate for HR products, landed costs for which is in the range of $450-455 per tonne.
The government had in August last year imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on HR flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel where the reference rate was in the range of $ 474-557 per tonne. During the same month, provisional duty was imposed on CR flat products and the reference rate was fixed at $594/tonne, $18 per tonne higher than the rate recommended now.
Starting from April, 2015, India has taken a slew of measures to counter predatory imports including raising import duty, imposition of minimum import price (MIP), anti-dumping duty and safeguard duty.
Source: financialexpress.com