India has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to $528 per tonne for 5 years on a Chinese polyester yarn used in automobile and other industries. The move will provide a level playing field to domestic players and guard them against below-cost imports. The Commerce Ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) recommended the duty after a probe into alleged dumping of ‘High Tenacity Polyester Yarn’ from China.
According to a Finance Ministry notification, the duty imposed is in the range of $174-528 per tonne. High Tenacity Polyester Yarn, also called industrial yarn, is used for manufacture of tyre cord fabric, seat belt webbing, ropes, coated fabric, conveyor belt fabric and automotive hose.
Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO.
The duty is also aimed at ensuring fair trading practises and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to check cheap imports from countries including China, with which India has a major concern of widening trade deficit. The deficit has increased to $63.12 billion in 2017-18.