Bangladesh government and businesses have requested India to arrange another hearing before taking its final decision on imposing anti-dumping duty on import of hydrogen peroxide from Bangladesh.

India’s move to impose anti-dumping duty on the product came on the heels of imposition of the same duty by the country on Bangladeshi jute and jute goods on January 5 that hit hard Bangladesh’s export earnings from its neighbour.

The Bangladesh commerce ministry and three local hydrogen peroxide producer-exporters separately sought a third hearing regarding the India’s latest move, officials said.

They also said that the ministry and the exporters —Tasmin Chemical Complex, ASM Chemical Industries and Samuda Chemical Complex Limited — also denied the allegation of dumping the product in India and presented their arguments to the DGAD.

The Director General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) of Indian commerce ministry has started a procedure to impose anti-dumping duty on import of hydrogen peroxide from six countries including Bangladesh.

The other countries are Pakistan, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.

The DGAD took the step following a petition from two Indian producer-exporters and on February 16 issued a disclosure statement determining the margin of the injury at 10 per cent to 30 per cent to Indian manufacturers due to the alleged dumping by Bangladeshi exporters.

It also asked Bangladesh to give opinions on the disclosure by March 3.

Officials of the Bangladesh commerce ministry expected that the DGAD would soon give their decision on arranging another hearing over the issue as the Indian authorities would have to complete the investigation by April 13.

The DGAD will issue its final determination or decision on the matter after considering the responses made by the parties concerned and will recommend the India’s finance ministry impose anti-dumping duty.

Earlier in March 2016, Pakistan imposed anti-dumping duty on import of hydrogen peroxide from Bangladesh.

Dumping occurs when a company exports a product to any country at prices lower than the normal value (the domestic price or the cost of production) of the product at its domestic market.

Industry insiders fear that the local industry would be hurt if India finally imposes the duty.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported hydrogen peroxide worth $52 lakh in the fiscal year of 2014-2015 while the total export earnings from the product was $77 lakh in the period.

Hydrogen peroxide is one kind of chemical used mainly in textile industry for bleaching and sterilising, oxidising, detoxifying and deodorising purposes.

The DGAD held the first hearing regarding the anti-dumping duty imposition on September 28, 2016. It arranged another hearing on November 7 due to a change of designated authorities at the office.

‘Bangladesh should get another hearing as the previous two hearings were held based on the petitioners’ documents only and at that time we did not have any views of the DGAD,’ said a senior official of the commerce ministry.

The DGAD has already visited Bangladesh to see the actual situation and issued disclosure statements as its views, he said adding that the agency would consider their request.

In its opinion, the commerce ministry raised concerns about possible imposition of anti-dumping duty and requested the DGAD to make necessary corrections in its findings at the final determination.

The ministry argued that exports from Bangladesh could not cause injury as it has very limited market share against the total demand.

The market share of Bangladeshi exporters of hydrogen peroxide in India was only 5.56 per cent in the fiscal year of 2013-2014.

Officials said that the DGAD determined the dumping by calculating higher production cost though the production cost of the local producers was lower than that in India due to lower price of gas, the main raw material for the product, in Bangladesh.

The government also expected that the DGAD would consider the explanations of Bangladesh before setting its final determination.

Mar 5, 2017
Source: NewAgebd.net