Anti-dumping duty on certain steel items extended

The Department of Revenue said in a notification that the government has extended anti-dumping duty on certain variety of steel products till December 4. The Finance Ministry on June 5, 2015, had imposed duty in the range of US$ 180-316 per tonne on imports of ‘hot rolled flat products of stainless steel 304 series’ from the said countries for a period of 5 years.

The move was based on the recommendation made by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies, after concluding a probe. This has been done with a view to shield domestic manufacturers from cheap imports coming from China, Malaysia and Korea.

Anti-dumping probes are recommended by countries to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a rise in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime, to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. However, they don’t intend to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.