India to Review Anti-dumping Duty on Chinese Injection Presses

 
Later this year, India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry will review whether to continue anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made injection molding machines.

Machinery suppliers commented about the pending decision at the Plastasia trade show, held Feb. 22-25 in Bangalore.

India imposed tariffs of up to 174 percent on many Chinese molding machines starting in 2009, but the five-year term for the tariffs is nearly finished.

The injection press market in India has changed significantly since 2009. One major change: L&T Plastic Machinery Ltd., which played a key role in convincing the Indian government to impose the duties, was sold to Toshiba Machine Co. Ltd. in late 2012.

Also, while sales of Chinese-made presses have suffered, manufacturers from Taiwan and Malaysia have stepped up efforts in India, executives said at Plastasia.

However, a weak rupee has made imported machines more expensive, so even manufacturers of lower cost presses are reporting flat-to-weak sales in India.

"Interestingly, the government is losing even its 7.5 percent import duty as Chinese machinery continue to pour in via Malaysia, with whom India has signed a free-trade agreement," said Milind Agnihotry, general sales manager for Zhafir Plastics Machinery Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese press maker Haitian International Holdings.

Haitian has invested in overseas factories in recent years, in Vietnam, Brazil, Turkey and Germany, and it has offices and service centers in India, Japan and the United States. Agnihotry was optimistic about the company expanding its operations in India — if the Indian government responds positively on the anti-dumping question.

"We have some plans, but until barriers are removed, the best could not be brought here. We don't know when the conditions would become conducive again for an India foray," Agnihotry said.

Zhafir shipped almost 300 machines to India in 2011. In the current fiscal year — which ends in March — it has already sold around 270 machines, so the company expects 2012 sales in India to be flat compared to 2011.

Tianan, Taiwan-based Huarong Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd. sold about $4 million in injection presses in India in 2012, according to Grace Lee, the company's manager for India and Africa.

"Last year was not such a bad year for us. Despite volatile currency fluctuations in India, we were down by 10 percent over the previous year," Lee said.

"Compared to that, [our] China business was down by almost 35 percent," Lee said. Sales in China suffered from the slowdown in growth for plastics manufacturers that export outside China.