India has started investigations into alleged dumping of ammonium nitrate, used in fertiliser sector, by four countries - Russia, Indonesia, Georgia and Iran - following a complaint by major domestic producers.
Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation and Smartchem Technologies have jointly filed an application for initiation of anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of ammonium nitrate from these nations.
In a notification, Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has said it has "sufficient prima facie evidence of dumping of the chemical by these countries".
"The authority 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 to recommend the amount of anti- dumping duty which, if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry," it said.
As per information available in the petition, the production of the petitioners accounts for 100 per cent of the total Indian production, it added.
DGAD is the nodal agency under the Commerce Ministry for such investigations.
The period of investigation is April-March 2015-16.
However, for the purpose of analysing injury, the data of 2012-15 will also be considered.
Unlike safeguard duties, which are levied in a uniform way, anti-dumping duties vary from product to product and country to country.
Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in 'below cost' or artificially cheaper imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties within the multilateral framework of World Trade Organization (WTO).
Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. It is not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products.
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