Anti-dumping duty on Vitamin C import

Anti-dumping duty on Vitamin C import
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, AUG 20: The Commerce Ministry has imposed anti-dumping duty on all imports of Vitamin C from Russia and European Union.

The decision was taken by the ministry following an investigation conducted by the designated authority under the ministry on receipt of complaints from some firms.

"Imports from Russia and EU have been at a price below the selling prices of the domestic industry. These parameters collectively and cumulatively indicate that the petitioner has suffered material injury due to the dumped imports," the designated authority said.

The anti-dumping duty on Vitamin C from Russia will be the difference between US $12.67 per kg and the landed value of imports, it said.

For Vitamin C imports from German company BASF originating from BASF Health and Nutrition of Denmark, the authority has fixed the anti-dumping duty as the difference between US $ 11.29 per kg and the landed value of imports.

In the case of all other exporters from the EU, the anti-dumping duty will be the difference between $12.67 per kg and the landed value of imports.

The designated authority in its preliminary findings on January, 2000 had accepted that exporters from Russia and EU had dumped Vitamin C into India and recommended anti-dumping duty.

Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises of Baroda had filed a complaint with the designated authority that Russia and EU had been dumping Vitamin C into India forcing it to sell its product at a price significantly below its non-injurious price resulting in financial losses.

Another company Jayant Vitamin Ltd that had created capacities for manufacturing Vitamin C had since closed its operations leaving Ambalal Sarabhai as the sole producer. Based on its investigation, the authority concluded that production by the domestic company fell from 303.713 metric tonne in 1997-98 to 283.84 MT in the period of investigation as against the total demand of about 1200 MT.

In contrast, imports from EU rose from 42.8 MT in 1996-97 to 107.58 MT during 1998-99 while imports from Russia was 30 MT during the period of investigation compared to nil during previous years. Ambalal Sarabhai's capacity utilisation also fell from 109 per cent in 1996-97 to 66 per cent during the period of investigation even as it had to reduce its staff strength from 482 in 1996-97 to 311 during the period of investigation, it said.

It added that import price of Vitamin C from EU was $3.66 per kg in 1996-97 and it fell to $2.78 per kg in 1998-99 while import price from Russia was $2.61 per kg during the period of investigation.

Based on the normal value of vitamin C and its export price, the authority concluded that dumping margin in case of Russia was 122.82 per cent while for BASF, Germany it was 49.2 per cent.