NEW DELHI: The end user industry of high grade stainless steel in the country, including pesticides and chemicals, refinery, auto components,
utensil manufacturers, plant and machinery manufacturers and kitchen equipment makers presently importing stainless steel for their respective industries, has strongly protested against the proposed levying of anti-dumping duty on import of stainless steel.
Union commerce ministry has recently recommended levying of anti-dumping duty on import of stainless steel from China, the European Union, the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, South Africa and Thailand.
The recommendation comes following a petition by Jindal Stainless to the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties which, in turn, has recommended a maximum levy of duty from US $1,823 a tonne from China on import of cold-rolled flat stainless product. The level of such duty on the product varies from country-to-country.
"The proposed high anti dumping duty on stainless steel recommended by ministry of commerce will have serious implications on the chemical industry which employs millions of workers in the small and medium enterprises in India.
The industry imports stainless steel flat products, because the domestic producers are not offering special grades and wider sizes needed for the industry" said Mr Pradip P Dave, President, Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI).
PMFAI has also written a letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh seeking an immediate withdrawal of anti dumping investigations against stainless steel import and protect the right of industry to chose their vendors, especially during the time of a slowdown.
"Imposing of anti dumping duty on behest of single manufacturer namely Jindal Stainless steel is not fair and ethical as it takes away our ‘right to choose our vendor’. We have about 225 members and most of them are exporters and we need to be globally competitive and we need to import stainless steel in wider sizes and qualities to bag export orders." Mr Dave said.
The commerce ministry has recommended anti dumping duty in wake of official data that suggests that imports have surged since November. Stainless steel imports moved up 60% to 16,000 tonnes in November 2008 as against 10,000 tonnes in the previous year. During April-February period of 2008-09 alloy steel imports stood at 5.25 lakh tonne as against 3.67 lakh tonne in the same period of previous fiscal.
"Indian stainless steel prices are almost half of what they were in 2007 because of steep fall in nickel prices. But, slowdown in global demand has increased low-cost imports from countries such as China, South Korea and Taiwan.
Source : The Economic Times