Meanwhile, it has imposed an additional duty on imports of ‘low ash metallurgical coke’ (used as a heat source) imported from Australia, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan and Russia for five years.
These decisions were taken by the finance ministry on the recommendation of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an investigative arm of the commerce ministry.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issues notifications for the same.
The goods on which the duties were extended are Untreated Fumed Silica; Arylides; Seamless Tubes, Pipes and Hollow Profiles of Iron, Alloy or Non-Alloy Steel; and Normal Butanol.
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While silica (used in paint, cosmetics and pharma industry); Arylides (used in dye and printing inks); and certain iron and non-alloy steel products were being continuously dumped by some Chinese firms; Normal Butanol (used in cosmetics and flavouring industry) was being imported at low prices from Malaysia, South Africa and the US.According to one of the notifications, India has extended anti-dumping duty on imports of ‘Untreated Fumed Silica‘ till February 10, 2027. The levy was extended till January 13 next year on Arylides and till January 27, 2027 on the iron-steel items.
The anti-dumping on the coke ranges between USD 42.95 per tonne and USD 128.83 per tonne.
On Normal Butanol, the duty has been extended for five years.
Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.
As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.
India and these countries are members of the WTO. India has already imposed anti-dumping duties on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.
The DGTR aims to protect sensitive sectors against the adverse impact of the trade liberalization like dumping and subsidy from any exporting country, by way of carrying out investigations in a transparent and time bound manner to remove trade distortive effects to the domestic industry under Customs Tariff Act and WTO framework by way of recommending imposition of these levies to the government of India.