India tightens grip on Chinese imports with anti dumping duty on six products
New Delhi: In a move aimed at protecting domestic industries from unfair pricing imports, the Government of India has imposed anti-dumping duties on six Chinese products so far this month, with significant implications for the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors.
Among the targeted products are Acetonitrile (used in pharma sector), Vitamin-A Palmitate, PEDA (used in herbicide), Insoluble Sulphur, Potassium Tertiary Butoxide and decor paper. These duties will remain in effect for five years, following recommendations from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an arm of the Ministry of Commerce.
While on PEDA, the duty will range from USD 1,305.6 to USD 2,017.9 per tonne, a duty of up to USD 481 per tonne has been imposed on Acetonitrile imported from China, Russia and Taiwan, PTI reported.
Similarly, the government has imposed a duty of up to USD 20.87 per Kg duty on Vitamin -A Palmitate imported from China, European Union and Switzerland; and up to USD 358 per tonne on import of Insoluble Sulphur, which is used in tyre industry, and imported from China and Japan.
Additional duties of up to USD 1,710 per tonne have been imposed on Potassium Tertiary Butoxide from China and the US. These chemicals are used as a catalyst in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), other pharma processes, agro chemical, speciality chemicals and polymers.
On decor paper, the levy of up to USD 542 per tonne has been imposed.
Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.
As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). Both India and China are members of the multilateral organisations, which deals with global trade norms.
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 is taking steps to boost domestic manufacturing and cut imports from China as the country's trade deficit with China widened to USD 99.2 billion during 2024-25.
In the last fiscal, India's exports to China contracted 14.5 per cent to USD 14.25 billion as against USD 16.66 billion in 2023-24. The imports, however, rose by 11.52 per cent in 2024-25 to USD 113.45 billion against USD 101.73 billion in 2023-24
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