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Kohinoor Mandal

KOLKATA, Feb. 22

THE Union Government has recently imposed anti-dumping duty on metal torches imported from China. With this, Indian torch manufacturers can now expect to witness a bright future, after having faced a severe competition from Chinese torches.

The duty was imposed by the Anti-Dumping Directorate last week through its notification no. 25/2003. According to the notification, the floor price for non-brass metal torches from China has been fixed at Rs 41 a piece.

Apart from this, the importer will have to pay a 16 per cent counterveiling duty and a four per cent special additional duty. As a result, the total price of an imported torch would not be less than Rs 50 per piece.

This decision would have a huge impact on the Indian torch industry, which is worth over Rs 140 crore. In the organised torchlight sector, the major players are leading corporate houses such as Eveready Industries, Geep, Nippo and Novino.

These companies produce more than 15 million torches a year and its value would be over Rs 110 crore, annually. The unorganised sector, with over two-dozen manufacturers, produces six million pieces worth Rs 25-30 crore.

It may be noted that from November 2001, cheap Chinese torchlights were imported into India in huge quantities. Of the total torch imports, more than 90 per cent were from China.

Moreover, they were coming in all sorts of configurations but in all the cases the key feature was the low price. In India, these items were sold under different brand names such as Kaida and Tiger.

Brass lookalike torches made of sheet metal were being imported at unbelievable prices like Rs 5-6 per piece. Moreover, the quality of the bulb and the switch was nowhere near that of the Indian torches. These products were then sold by Indian wholesalers at about Rs 20-23 per piece.

Industry sources said that after investigation they found the production cost of these torches in China was well over Rs 30 a piece. These torches were mostly imported through the Kolkata and Mumbai ports.

While imposing the anti-dumping duty, the directorate cited three reasons for doing so. First, non-brass metal flashlights were exported from China to India at a price below the normal value. Second, the Indian industry suffered material injury and third, the injury to the domestic industry was caused by the Chinese imports.

The Delhi-based Sadar Bazar Torch Manufacturers Association argued the case for imposition of the anti-dumping duty.

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Anti-dumping duty on China-made metal torches

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