India Faces Three-Year Renewal of EU Tariffs on Shipping Ropes.

The European Union renewed 12-year- old tariffs on synthetic fiber ropes from India to shield Portuguese, Greek and other producers in the bloc from imports rendered “insignificant” by the trade protection.

The 27-nation EU re-imposed the duties as high as 82 percent on Indian manufacturers including Garware Wall Ropes Ltd. In a concession to India and European users, the renewal is for three years rather than the usual five years for such levies, which seek to counter below-cost or “dumped” sales by exporters to Europe. The ropes are used by ships for mooring and by the fishing industry.

“Thanks to the fact that effective anti-dumping duties have been in place concerning imports of synthetic fiber ropes originating in India, the union industry appears to have managed to recover to a large extent,” the EU said in a decision today in Brussels. “Three years should be enough for the union industry to complete its economic and financial recovery.”

India’s share of the EU synthetic fiber-rope market fell to below 0.1 percent after the introduction of the duties in 1998, the EU said when re-imposing the levies for five years in 2004.

EU imports from India since then have been “insignificant,” staying at less than 0.1 percent of European consumption in the 12 months through September 2009, the bloc said in today’s decision, which lists Portugal’s Cordoaria Oliveira SA and Lankhorst Euronete Ropes SA, Greece’s Eurorope SA, Austria’s Teufelberger GmbH and the Czech Republic’s Lanex AS among producers in Europe.

The verdict is the outcome of a probe that prevented the levies from lapsing as previously scheduled in October 2009. The three-year renewal will take effect after being published in the EU Official Journal by Jan. 7.

A May 2009 request for longer trade protection by an industry group called Eurocord on behalf of producers accounting for more than half of the EU’s output of synthetic fiber ropes prompted the investigation. The duties are 82 percent against all Indian manufacturers of the ropes except Garware Wall Ropes, which faces a 53 percent levy.

Source : bloomberg.com