In a move to provide further protection for the steel industry, the government has started investigation of dumping by six countries – China, Japan, Russia, Korea, Brazil and Indonesia.

The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties has initiated anti-dumping investigation on the basis of the application made by Steel Authority of India, JSW Steel and Essar Steel. The plea is supported by Tata Steel and Jindal Steel and Power.

The applicants have requested for retrospective imposition of the anti-dumping duty due to the history of dumping by the six exporting countries, said the investigative body in a statement. All the interested parties have been asked to express their views within 40 days starting from Monday.

The products covered under investigations are hot rolled coils of width up to 2100mm and thickness up to 25mm, hot rolled sheet and plates of a width up to 4950 mm and thickness upto150 mm. The period of investigation is July-December 2015.

In September last year, the government imposed a provisional safeguard import duty on some steel products for 200 days and extended it till March 2018 to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap Chinese imports. Additional protection of Minimum Import Price was imposed by the government in February for six months, even while retaining the safeguard duty.

The anti-dumping duty, once finalised, will remain for longer tenure unlike the present safeguard duty and Minimum Import Price.

The five steel companies have claimed that they have suffered material injury as due to the alleged dumping by the six countries and have furnished evidence of it. The investigative authority has found sufficient prima facie evidence of injury being suffered by the applicants caused by the dumped imports from the subject countries to justify initiation of an anti-dumping investigation, it said.

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