Product under such investigation by other nations too.

Stung by the steep spurt in import from China of seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of iron, alloy or non-alloy steel (other than cast iron), whether hot finished or cold drawn or cold rolled, the Commerce Ministry has set off an anti-dumping probe, following a petition filed by domestic manufacturers alleging dumping.

Interestingly, the same products were subject to such an investigation a decade ago by the Indian authorities against Austria, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Romania and Ukraine and anti-dumping duty was levied.

The product under the present probe against China is seamless tubes of an external diameter not exceeding 273 mm or 10” that includes boiler and line pipes used in hydrocarbon industry and casting and tubing of a kind used in drilling for oil and gas exploration.

Seamless tubes are used where strength, resistance to corrosion, microstructure and product life matter. Casting/tubing are used in extraction of crude oil and gas from sea as well as from earth, while line pipes are used in hydrocarbon and processing industry.

Boiler pipes are used in boilers, heat exchangers, super heaters and condensers and in mechanical, structural and general engineering industry and railways.

Official sources told Business Line here that the need for this investigation stems from the fact that China has been dumping the world with these products.

Several countries including Argentina, Canada, the European Union and the United States have initiated such a probe against China in the recent months, with the US and Canada examining an anti-subsidy probe too

The application for the anti-dumping investigation was filed by ISMT Ltd, Pune and backed by Maharashtra Seamless Ltd and Jindal Saw Ltd. It is noted that Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (BHEL) and Jindal Saw imported the product from China in the period of probe.

While BHEL has substantially consumed the product captively and even purchased the same from other domestic producers, the Authorityhas excluded BHEL, as being ineligible to include as domestic industry.

In the case of Jindal Saw, the volume of imports is quite low and in view of that it is being deemed the domestic industry.

The applicant has sought that China should be treated as non-market economy and therefore the normal value should be determined in line with the provisions of the Rules.

But since investigations are on by other countries including the EU, US and Canada, this clearly demonstrates that the Chinese producers are resorting to dumping in major global markets and thus export price from other countries would also be suppressed.

Hence the applicant claimed normal value based on cost of production in India, including selling, general and administration expenses and reasonable profit.

Export price of the subject goods from China has been arrived at by considering transaction-wise import data gleaned by the DGCI&S, Kolkata. Price adjustments have been made on account of ocean freight, inland freight, marine insurance, commission and port expenses in the exporting country to arrive at ex-factory export price. Normal value and export price have been compared at ex-factory level in respect of China. Based on this, the Authority said there is sufficient evidence that the normal value of the subject goods in China so arrived is significantly higher than the ex-factory export price indicating that the subject goods are being dumped by exporters from China into the Indian market and the dumping margin is estimated to be above de minimis.

The period of investigation is from April 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009( 15 months), while the injury investigation span would cover the fiscal years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and the period of probe. Interestingly the data of Indian imports of the subject goods from China show that the volume has gone up from 64,824 tonne in 2005-06 to 76,744 tonne in 2006-07 to 81,643 tonnes in 2007-08 and to 1,63,882 tonnes in 2008-09, while the price per tonne has been Rs 49, 530, Rs 53,032, Rs 40,120 and Rs 53,223 in the respective years.

G. Srinivasan
geeyes@thehindu.co.in

New Delhi, Jan. 17

Source: www.thehindubusinessline.com