Govt slaps duty on import of air-conditioning gas from China.

NEW DELHI: India has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to USD 1.63 per kg on the import of refrigeration and air-conditioning gas from China and Japan to protect the domestic industry.

The Finance Ministry imposed the duty after the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) concluded that imports of the gas from the two countries are at very low prices and caused material injury to the domestic industry.

DGAD is a nodal investigating agency under the commerce ministry.

"The domestic industry has suffered material injury... The injury has been caused by the dumped imports from China and Japan," the finance ministry said in a notification.

The duty on the gas , 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane or R- 134a, ranges between USD 0.99 and USD 1.63 per kg, it added.

Acting on a complaint from Gurgaon-based SRF Ltd, the DGAD had initiated a probe into the dumping of the gas by China and Japan. The anti-dumping duty would be effective till October 18, 2010.

The government has also imposed an anti-dumping duty of up to USD 247.25 per tonne on imports of phenol, a chemical used mainly in plywood and drugs manufacturing, from Japan and Thailand. As many as 11 anti-dumping duties have been imposed on Chinese firms from April to February, 2009-10.

Unlike safeguard duties, which are levied in a uniform way, anti-dumping duties vary from product-to-product and country-to-country.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a countermeasure, they impose duties within the multilateral regime of the WTO.

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level playing field to domestic industry. It is not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in the cost of products.

Source : The Economic Times