Dumping duty on China battery imports

Dumping duty on China battery imports
AGENCIES

NEW DELHI, MAR 21: The anti-dumping authority has recommended provisional anti-dumping duties on all imports of Lead Acid batteries imported from China, Japan and Korea while dismissing the case against Bangladesh since the margin of dumping is less than prescribed limits.

Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has recommended provisional duty equal to the difference between the amount indicated per kg and landed value of import per kg.

The duty therefore is equal to the difference of the amount $2.49 per kg to $3.48 per kg in case of China, $2.36-3.96 per kg in case of Korea and between $2.46-3.98 per kg in case of Japan and the landed value of imports. The DGAD in its preliminary notification concluded that lead acid batteries exported to India from China, Korea and Japan was below normal value and domestic industry had suffered material injury. The investigation on the basis of a domestic petition filed by Exide Industries and Amara Raja Batteries Ltd was conducted from January - September 2000.

The case against Bangladesh was dismissed “as per the evidence available before the authority, the imports from Bangladesh account for less than three per cent of the value and volume of the import of the goods into India. “Hence for the purpose of preliminary findings the authority determines that imports from Bangladesh are deminimus pending further investigation,” DGAD said.

The DGAD has worked out the dumping margin for all the exporters and manufacturers of each country separately for industrial batteries, automotive maintenance free sealed batteries and automotive other than maintenance free dry batteries. The dumping margin was found to be on the three separate categories between 30.52-181.51 per cent, between 34.48-59.92 per cent in case of Korea and between 34.30-59.30 per cent in case of Japan.

During the period of investigation imports from Chinaaccount for 30 per cent, Korea 21 per cent and Japan six per cent of the total value of imports, DGAD said, adding that imports from the three countries was increasing at a significant rate causing further threat of material injury to the domestic industry. The DGAD also noted that the domestic industry was facingprice undercutting from the dumped imports as the landed value of imported product from the three countries was significantly below the selling price of the domestic industry.

“The price undercutting varies from 13% to 54% in different models of industrial and automotive batteries... and domestic industry has stated that their dealer as well as major customers have been pressing hard for further price reduction,” it said. The DGAD said it considers it necessary to impose anti-dumping duty provisionally in order to remove the injury to the domestic industry.