The government today said it had imposed an anti-dumping duty on wire rods made out of steel from China to protect domestic manufacturers.
A notification by the revenue department today said an anti-dumping duty was being imposed for six months on wire rod made of alloy or non-alloy steel imported from China.
The move follows an observation by the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) that steel wire rod was being exported by China at rates "below the normal value" and "the domestic industry has suffered material injury" from these cheap imports.
An anti-dumping duty equivalent to the difference between the landed value of steel products and $499 per tonne will be imposed on products exported by Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co Ltd. In case of other producers, the levy will be the difference between the landed value and $538 per tonne, the notification issued last night said.
"The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period not exceeding six months (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette and shall be paid in Indian currency," the notification added.
The DGAD report came after a probe initiated at the instance of Steel Authority of India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Usha Martin and JSW Steel.
The wire rods in question are used in automobile components, cables, welding electrodes, fasteners, railway sleepers and in the construction industry.
Imports of these steel products have increased more than three-fold to 4.95 lakh tonnes during the period of investigation (July-December 2015) from 1.6 lakh tonnes in 2012-13.
India had earlier extended safeguard duties of 20 per cent on a range of steel products for another two years to protect domestic steel makers battling cheap imports from China, Japan and Korea. The government had also imposed minimum import prices in February ranging from $600 per tonne for coated flat steel to $550 a tonne for cold rolled steel and $425 a tonne for hot-rolled steel.
As China's economy slows down, its demand for steel is shrinking, producing huge over-capacities, forcing its steel makers to increase sales to the rest of the world.
The World Steel Association said China's demand for steel dropped 3.5 per cent in 2015 and will shrink by another 7 per cent over 2016 and 2017, taking it to about 626 million tonnes (mt).
China, which has capacity to make about 803mt of steel, plans to cut as much as 150mt of capacity over five years as part of its supply-side reforms.
Source: TelegraphIndia