Opinion
Mint Quick Edit | India’s anti-dumping barriers: More to come?
Summary
- It’s clear why Chinese producers may be looking to dump surplus production in markets like India. What’s unclear is whether our newly declared list of protected product categories will be expanded.
India has levied anti-dumping duties on five Chinese products that were being imported below market prices, raising suspicion of their being “dumped" here. These barriers should help protect Indian producers against potentially unfair competition from a country faced with low domestic demand, deflationary pressures and over-capacity.
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Producers in China looking to export their surplus at throwaway prices is not a surprise. With demand at home insufficient to absorb what their factories churn out, it’s sometimes found that selling the stuff below cost in overseas markets makes more financial sense than reducing output to levels that reverse the advantage conferred by economies of scale.
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The latest set of duties cover soft ferrite cores, vacuum insulated flasks of a certain thickness, aluminium foil, trichloro isocyanuric acid and poly vinyl chloride paste resin, as identified by India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies.
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What remains unclear is whether the coverage of anti-dumping measures will be expanded. Given the Chinese economy’s slump and trade volatility caused by America’s new tariffs, India must stay vigilant. We shouldn’t just let the chips fall wherever they might.
