India Withdraws Anti-Dumping Duties on Flat Rolled Steel Products from Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – India has revoked anti-dumping duties on imports of flat rolled products of stainless steel from 15 countries, including Indonesia, the country’s top trade official said Friday, July 23.

"Indonesia has taken a diplomatic approach with high-ranking Indian officials following the issuance of recommendations for the implementation of anti-dumping duties which contains deficiencies in terms of substance and investigation procedures. We welcome the decision made by the Indian Government," said Trade Minister MuhammadLuthfi in a statement.

Lutfi said the revocation of the imposition of the anti-dumping duties can restore the access of flat rolled products of stainless steel export to the Indian market. He said that the export performance of Indonesia's flat rolled steel to India in 2019 reached $426 million. However, it dropped to $117 million in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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This year so far, there is no indication of recovery because the flat rolled steel exports to India from January-May stood at only $60 million, or down 31.4 percent from $87.5 million in the same period of 2020.

Meanwhile, acting director general for foreign trade at the Trade Ministry Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana said the joint effort between the government and the accused company resulted in the best outcome.

"We appreciate the company's cooperative attitude and active participation during the investigation process so that the government has achieved a maximum defense to the finish line," said Wisnu.

The ministry’s acting director of trade security Pradnyawati said the weakening of export value this year was affected by the imposition of temporary import duties (BMIS) or provisional measures by the Indian government at 20-30 percent on flat rolled products of stainless steel from Indonesia.

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"Therefore, we should be grateful for this achievement and it is hoped that the export performance of flat rolled products of stainless steel will go up again,” Pradnyawati said.
“We also continued to voice out the objections to the Indian Authorities because of the serious deficiency of different product range. Therefore, we brought the matter to a higher level," said Pradnyawati.

She explained that following the investigation the Indonesian government has identified weaknesses in the procedures and substance of the investigation carried out by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) of India. This includes the use of a single analysis between dumping and loss considering the wide scope of the products which were being investigated.

"It is hoped that this best result can restore opportunities for the exports of flat rolled steel products to India," she said.

According to the memorandum of India’s department of revenue, the central government has decided to withdraw the anti-dumping duty on imports of flat rolled products of stainless steel from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, the EU, the US, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

(Writer: Elsa Catriana | Editor : Yoga Sukmana)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/07/23/145945926/india-batalkan-bmad-produk-stainless-steel-asal-indonesia?page=all#page2.