The government may impose anti-dumping duty on a chemical used in pharma and pesticide industries from China and Saudi Arabia with a view to guard domestic players from cheap imports.

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The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has initiated a probe into an alleged dumping of Dimethyl Formamide from these two countries following a complaint filed by Balaji Amines Ltd on behalf of domestic industry.

The company has filed an application before the directorate for investigation into the imports from these countries for imposing anti-dumping duty.

DGTR in a notification said on the basis of the prima facie evidence submitted by the company about dumping of the product by firms in these two nations, " the authority, hereby, initiates an investigation".

In the probe, DGTR will determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping.

If it will be established that the dumping has impacted the domestic industry, the directorate would recommend imposition of the duty. The finance ministry will take the final decision to impose the duty.

The period of investigation is January to September 2019 (9 months). It would also look at the data of 2016-19.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of the World Trade Organisation.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trade practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters.

First Published:Jan 16, 2020 10:48 PM IST