India Imposes Anti-dumping Duty on Thai, Japanese Chemical

India has imposed an anti-dumping duty of up to $94.96 per tonne on imports of a chemical used in the manufacture of alcohol and rubber, from Japan and Thailand to protect the domestic players.

The restrictive duty on import of glass fibre would be imposed for a period of five years, the Department of Revenue said.

The duty would range between $94.96 per tonne and $85.85 per tonne on the import of acetone from these two countries, it said.

"The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be levied for a period of five years...from the date of imposition of the provisional duty, that is, 9th April, 2010," the department said.

The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), a nodal agency under the Commerce Ministry, had recommended the imposition of the duty after an investigation.

The DGAD concluded in its probe that the domestic industry had suffered a material injury on account of dumped imports of the product from Japan and Thailand.

The country had already imposed duty on imports of fabric, yarn, nylon tyre cord and several chemicals from countries like China.

Anti-dumping duty is recommended by the Commerce Ministry, while the Finance Ministry imposes the same. Unlike safeguard duties, which are levied in a uniform way, anti-dumping duties vary from product-to-product and from country-to-country.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if the domestic industry has been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.