Industry seeks cover against steel dumping from abroad

The CII expressed concern about the decision to reduce the reference price of certain seconds defective steel items. This would make the Indian steel industry vulnerable both to serious material injury leading to India becoming a dumping ground for seconds and defectives, in some products like tinplate waste where India is the only country allowing import.

Considering the fact that Indian steel industry is unable to file anti-dumping petitions against the erring countries due to non-availability of import data for the immediate past three months, industry will not be in a position to fight the threat of material injury in the form of very low price of prime varieties particularly from sources like CIS/Russia/South Africa.

The chamber recommended that the imposition of regulatory duty on prime materials be provided for beyond December 1999 to take care of any uncertainly. Also floor price is not a WTO inconsistent measure, and this is fully borne out the use of a reference price as a fast-track mechanism to deal with cheap imports by a number of countries.

The import of seconds/defectives be put either on the banned list or restricted list in order to prevent the flooding of the Indian market by poor quality imports. Alternatively, a higher duty be imposed on such products. On the rationale of fixing a reference price for seconds/defectives at 75 per cent that of the prime category, CII opined that this is too low to restrict the flow of second-hand imports. The chamber suggested that the reference price for second/defectives be out at 90 per cent of the average price of prime materials from non-dumping exports.

“The issue for certification of steel imports must be addressed. A reputed foreign agency must certify the quality of steel exports to India. This is perfectly justifiable, as many countries use individual standards for certification of imports of industrial products,” CII said. The Indian steel industry at a time of global overcapacity and dumping is correct, advisable and in keeping with international practice. India should take cue from the USA, which is supporting their domestic steel industry and employment, the chamber said.