Jindal Stainless seeks anti-dumping duty on imports from China.

New Delhi: Jindal Stainless, the largest domestic stainless steel producer, has sought imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of the metal alloy from China, a top official of the company said.

"We have requested the government to impose anti-dumping duty on cheaper imports of stainless steel from China. Their price is much below the cost level. This is hurting the industry," Jindal Stainless President and Executive Director Ramesh Nair said.

He added that their demand is for imposing anti-dumping duty on cold rolled flat stainless steel, which accounts for about 80-85 percent of domestic consumption.

Currently, India has a surplus stainless steel production capacity at about 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). Of this, about 0.8 MTPA gets exported.

Despite this, the industry estimates that imports from China, amounting to about 2.5 -3 lakh tonnes in a year, is taking place largely due to cheaper prices offered by the Chinese manufacturers.

"They (the Chinese producers) are pumping the material at sub-cost level. Their price is 20-25 percent lower, They are able to do it as they have surplus capacity and are not worried about their bottom line (profit levels)," he said, while adding that officials of Jindal Stainless had recently met Directorate General of Anti Dumping and Allied Duties to pursue their case.

In November last year, government had imposed anti-dumping duty on flat stainless steel from European Union, South Africa, the US and Taiwan to protect the domestic industry from cheap imports from abroad. The level of duty on the product varied from country-to-country.

The government currently levies 5 percent import duty on imports of stainless steel.

As per the industry estimates, China currently produces about 12-13 MTPA, which is much more than their consumption at about 9 MTPA. This is expected to rise to 20-25 MTPA in two-three years.

"At current rate of 5 percent import duty, there is a threat of India becoming a dumping ground for Chinese manufacturers but the safeguard duty should get imposed only as a short-term measure," said N C Mathur, President of industry body, Indian Stainless Steel Development Authority (ISSDA).

He further said that long term solution would depend on government taking proactive measures on increasing the usage of stainless steel in various infrastructure and consumer durables segments including rail, automotive and white goods.

Among the domestic producers, Jindal Stainless, with a capacity of 1.8 MTPA, accounts for about 50 percent of total domestic production. Other major players include Salem Plant of SAIL, Viraj Steel and Mukand Ltd, while rest of the companies have smaller production units.

Source : zeenews.india.com