India imposes an anti-dumping duty on steel imports from Vietnam for five years

With an aim to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap imports, India has imposed an anti-dumping duty of $121.55 per tonne on imports of hot rolled flat steel products from Vietnam for five years. According to a notification by the finance ministry, the imposition of the duty was recommended by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).

It said the anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification. The steel industry has sought a probe into the alleged dumping of these steel products in India. DGTR had conducted the investigation and recommended the imposition of the duty. The imposition of the duty assumes significance as steel manufacturers have raised concerns over the dumping. However, the user industry is against the move.

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 Geneva-based World Trade Organization (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.