Indian May Imposes Anti-dumping Duty on Japanese, Chinese Printing Plates

India is likely to impose anti-dumping duty of up to USD 6.60 per sqm on import of particular types of digital printing plates from China and Japan to protect domestic players from cheap imports.

In preliminary findings, the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has concluded that the domestic industry has "suffered material injury" due to the "dumped" imports of the Digital Offset Printing Plates from China and Japan.

The plates are used in the printing industry for transferring data on tin sheets. It enables direct transfer of image from a computer to the plate.

The restrictive duty recommended by the DGAD on different types of plates will vary from USD 5.26 per square meter to USD 6.60 per sqm.

The product has been exported to India from China and Japan below normal values, the commerce ministry has said in a notification.

It said the dumped imports from these nations have significantly increased during the period of investigation (April 2010 to March 2011).

"...resultantly, the market share of the dumped imports in the total imports of subject goods have increased," it added.

Imports of the plates have increased to 4.233 million sqm during 2010-11 from 1.123 million sqm in 2007-08, it said.

The DGAD is a nodal investigation agency under the Commerce Ministry. However, a final call on imposition of the duty will be taken by the Finance Ministry.

Acting on complaints from the domestic industry, the DGAD had initiated the probe into the dumping of the plates.

Unlike safeguard duties, which are levied in a uniform manner, anti-dumping duty varies from product-to-product and country-to-country.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap, or below-normal-cost, imports.

As a counter-measure, they impose duties, as provided for under the multilateral regime of the WTO.

Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level playing field to domestic players. It is not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in the cost of products.