India slaps anti-dumping duty on certain steel products from China, Vietnam and Korea

India on Tuesday imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of certain steel products from China, Vietnam and South Korea for five years after a probe found that these items were injuring to domestic producers.

The rate of duty imposed varies from country to country and from exporter to exporter and falls in the range of USD 13.07 per tonne to USD 173.1 per tonne. The highest rate is applicable to exports from China at USD 128.9 per tonne. It is imposed on imports of flat-rolled products of steel coated with an alloy of zinc and aluminium and from these three countries.

The duty was imposed after the Commerce Ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR). In its probe, DGTR found that the product was exported to India by these countries below its associated normal value, which resulted in dumping and in turn impacting domestic players. The action was taken with an aim to guard the domestic manufacturers from cheap imports from these companies.

The department of revenue said in a notification, said, "The anti-dumping duty shall be effective for a period of five years from the date of imposition of the provisional anti-dumping duty, i.e., October 15, 2019."

A country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products that to provide a level-playing field to the domestic manufacturers. However, the duty is slapped only after conducting a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body.

Dumping happens in terms of international terms when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market. Dumping has an impact on the price of the products that import these products, which hurts the domestic manufacturing firms of that company in terms of margins and profits.