India starts anti-dumping probe on rubber import from EU, South Korea

NEW DELHI: India has initiated a probe into alleged dumping of rubber variants used for leather goods by the EU, South Korea and Thailand following complaints from Reliance Industries and Indian Synthetic Rubber.

The move is aimed at protecting domestic players in the sector against cheap imports.

The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), an arm of the Commerce Ministry, has begun investigating imports of 'Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) of 1,500 series and 1,700 series' from these three regions.

In a notification, DGAD has said it has found sufficient prima facie evidence of dumping of the product from China.

"The authority (DGAD)... hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping and consequent injury to the domestic industry, to determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping and recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which, if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry," the notification said.

The period of investigation covers October 2014 to September 2015 (12 months).

SBR is mainly used in footwear, rubberised fabric, tyres, tread, conveyor belt, hose and shoes, water pipes and auto accessories.

Indian Synthetic Rubber Pvt is a joint venture of Indian Oil Corporation, TSRC, Taiwan, and Marubeni Corporation, Japan. The company is stated to have commenced commercial production in February 2014. It has claimed that the dumping of the product in the country is materially retarding establishment of the domestic industry.

Reliance Industries, the co-applicant, has also set up a plant for production of the product under consideration, but is yet to announce its commercial production.

Countries start anti-dumping probes to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.

India has already imposed an anti-dumping duty on several products, to tackle cheap imports from countries, including China.