In a rare move, the Indian government has rejected recommendations of the Directorate General for Trade Remedies (DGTR) for the continuation of antidumping (AD) duties on imports of alloy and non-alloy cold rolled coil (CRC) of all widths and thicknesses from China, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine, government officials said on Monday, January 10.
In the normal course, recommendations for imposition or continuation of AD duties are forwarded to the department of revenues under the ministry of finance, which in turn issues the official notification giving effect to the recommendations.
However, in this case, the department of revenue in an ‘office memo’ noted that “the central government after considering the final finding of the DGTR has decided not accept the recommendations”.
In September 2021, the DGTR completed a sunset review of AD duties in force since 2016 on imports of these steel products from four countries. In its report finalized after the review, the DGTR established that withdrawal of the levy will lead to dumping of the product into the country and recommended continuation of AD duty of $576/mt on all imports from the four countries.
Though no official reasons have been cited for rejecting the recommendations of DGTR, government sources said that, in view of the rising price of steel products in the domestic market, the decision not to give effect to the continuation of AD duty will have a cooling impact on prices.