Anti-dumping duties

Dumping is the practice of selling a product in a foreign market at an unfairly low price (a price that is lower than the cost in the home market, or which is lower than the cost of production) in order to gain a competitive advantage over other suppliers.
Dumping is done to gain access to the foreign market and eliminate competition. It creates a monopoly in the market.
Dumping enables consumers in the importing country to obtain access to goods at an affordable price. However, it can also destroy the local market of the importing country, which can result in layoffs and the closure of businesses.

An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports when it believes that the goods are being “dumped” – through the low pricing – in the domestic market.
Anti-dumping duty is imposed to protect local businesses and markets from unfair competition by foreign imports.

While the intention of anti-dumping duties is to save domestic jobs, these tariffs can also lead to higher prices for domestic consumers.
In the long-term, anti-dumping duties can reduce the international competition of domestic companies producing similar goods.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) plays a critical role in the regulation of anti-dumping measures.
The WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement allows the government of the affected country to take legal action against the dumping country as long as there is evidence of genuine material injury to industries in the domestic market.
The government must show that dumping took place, the extent of the dumping in terms of costs, and the injury or threat to cause injury to the domestic market.
In other cases, the WTO intervenes to prevent anti-dumping measures.

The government has extended anti-dumping duty on certain types of seamless tubes, and pipes till October 31 this year with a view to guarding domestic manufacturers from cheap Chinese imports.
The duty was first imposed in May 2016 for five years.
The commerce ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) had recommended for extension of the duty, after concluding a probe.
While DGTR recommends the duty to be levied, the Ministry of Finance imposes it.
Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multilateral WTO regime.
India has initiated maximum anti-dumping cases against dumped imports from China.

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