|
|
Trade barriers springing up |
|
28/03/2009 |
| The flood of foreign products between April and December 2008 may persuade the Union government to impose more import restrictions soon, it is learnt.
"The surge in imports of many commodities during April-December 2008 could have impacted industries. This will force the government to initiate anti-dumping or safeguard duties," a senior official said.
Anti-dumping and safeguard actions are initiated when the industry complains to the government, with proof, that it has been adversely impacted. The data compiled by the Commerce Ministry may act as a trigger for industry groups to press for protectionist measures.
For example, imports of certain hot-rolled steel coil varieties surged by a whopping 14,278 per cent and stood at Rs 487.17 crore during the 9-month period of April-December 2008-09, as against Rs 3.38 crore in the same period of 2007-08. Imports of many other varieties of hot-rolled coil have also shot up in the same period.
Imports of radial tyres for commercial vehicles almost doubled and stood at Rs 267.34 crore in the period under review, up from Rs 137.72 crore.
Similarly, for some categories of auto components, imports more than doubled and stood at Rs 175.39 crore, compared with nearly Rs 80 crore in the same nine-month period of 2007-08. Imports of coaxial cables doubled to Rs 336 crore from Rs 169 crore in the 2007-08 period.
Officials say that if imports over a short period increase by over 25 to 30 per cent, it can be termed as a surge. Total imports expanded by 50 per cent in the April to December 2008-09 period and stood at Rs 10,03,947 crore, as against Rs 6,93,445 crore in the corresponding period of 2007-08.
The import surge has partly been ascribed to the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar by more than 20 per cent.
The government can either impose anti-dumping duties or safeguard duties to tackle import surges.
In other words, the products under investigation are being dumped by producers based in some other country.
"Dumping of products shows that the domestic consumption in the producer country has declined. Hence, the producers want to dump their products in some other country and retrieve at least the fixed cost," the official explained.
Anti-dumping duties are country-specific.
Safeguard action is initiated when the industry complains about a surge in imports adversely impacting them. In this case, the product may not be dumped. This action has to be applied to all countries.
But in both these cases, the industry has to prove that there has been injury to it by the imports by lesser sales, declining production and loss of market share. Procedures related to safeguards are easier than those of anti-dumping.
Certain industries like hot-rolled coil producers have already complained to the government.
While hot-rolled coils in the country cost nearly Rs 30,000, imported ones are available for about Rs 21,000. |
|
|
print
this page
