India imposes anti-dumping duty for 5 years on steel imports from Vietnam

New Delhi: India has imposed an anti-dumping duty of USD 121.55 per tonne on imports of hot rolled flat steel products from Vietnam for five years.

The move is aimed at protecting domestic manufacturers from cheap imports.

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According to a notification by the finance ministry on Thursday, the imposition of the duty was recommended by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).

"The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of publication of this notification," it said.

The steel industry has sought a probe into the alleged dumping of these steel products in India. DGTR had conducted the investigation and recommended the imposition of the duty.

The imposition of the duty assumes significance as steel manufacturers have raised concerns over the dumping. However, the user industry is against the move.

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 Geneva-based World Trade Organization (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 and Vietnam are members of the WTO, which is a 166-member multilateral trade body. India also has a free trade agreement with the 10-nation block ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) since January 2010. Vietnam is a member of ASEAN.

The bilateral trade between the two countries was USD 14.81 billion in 2023-24 against USD 14.7 billion in 2022-23. While India's exports stood at USD 5.47 billion, imports were USD 9.34 billion in the last fiscal, leaving a trade deficit of USD 3.87 billion in favour of Vietnam.

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