IPMA has presented evidence of the ‘material injury’ faced by the domestic industry due to dumped imports, highlighting a significant increase in imports from China and Chile—both in absolute and relative terms—at prices below the domestic industry’s cost of sales. According to their application, this has negatively impacted the profitability of domestic manufacturers.
Oct 7, 2024
The Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) has submitted an application to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the Customs Tariff Act of 1975, seeking the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation into imports of virgin multi-layer paperboard from Chile and China. IPMA alleges that the domestic industry is suffering ‘material injury’ due to dumped imports from these countries and has requested the imposition of anti-dumping duties on these products.
IPMA represents several prominent domestic paper manufacturers, including Century Textiles and Industries, Emami Paper Mills, ITC, JK Paper Limited, and Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited. Additionally, West Coast Paper Mills has expressed support for the application.
The proposed investigation period is from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, potentially incorporating data from the fiscal years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23.
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The applicant argues that China should be classified as a non-market economy, necessitating that Chinese producers demonstrate the existence of market economy conditions for the production and sale of the product in question. If they fail to do so, their normal value will be determined according to Paragraph 7 of Annexure I of the Anti-Dumping Rules 1995.
Consequently, the ministry has established the normal value for China-based on prices in India, derived from estimated production costs of domestic producers, adjusted for selling, general, and administrative expenses, along with a reasonable profit margin. The applicant’s methodology for determining normal value has been accepted for this investigation.
Regarding Chile, the applicant noted a lack of access to information on domestic selling prices. Due to the absence of a specific tariff classification for the product, the applicant could not rely on import prices from Chile or export prices, nor was information on production costs in Chile available.
To initiate the investigation, the ministry has estimated the normal value for Chile-based on the production costs of domestic producers, adjusted similarly for selling, general, and administrative expenses, and profit margins.
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IPMA has presented evidence of the injury faced by the domestic industry due to dumped imports, highlighting a significant increase in imports from China and Chile—both in absolute and relative terms—at prices below the domestic industry’s cost of sales. According to their application, this has negatively impacted the profitability of domestic manufacturers.
The anti-dumping investigation has been initiated to assess the existence, extent, and impact of dumping concerning the products imported from China and Chile. This investigation may recommend the necessary anti-dumping duties to mitigate any injury to the domestic industry, if applicable.
