The European Commission has ordered the registration of stainless steel cold rolled flat products imports from India and Indonesia as part of the antidumping investigation launched in September 2020.
Eurofer had made a registration request in late December 2020 given the increase in imports of these products following the start of the investigation. The registration will remain in force for nine months and end in late December 2021.
During the post-initiation period versus the investigation period, India decreased its shipments to Europe by 30pc while Indonesia increased them by 71pc. Moreover, the Commission noted concern in the decreasing trend in the import prices of the products under investigation when comparing the initial and investigation periods.
The rise in imports would undermine the remedial effect of the potential duties per the statement from Eurofer to the Commission. Eurofer noted in its complaint that given the product’s history of dumping, measures imposed and investigations opened, importers should have been aware of the dumping practices of the two countries under scrutiny.
Eurofer pointed to holes in the tariff-quota system and future injury to the EU domestic manufacturers. Dumping concerns were supported by a comparison of the normal value ex-works level against the export price to the EU market. The Indian market has an alleged dumping margin of 48.8pc and Indonesia’s ranges from 15.6-34.4pc.
The registration will allow for measures to be applied against those imports retroactively from the date of the registration. The Jindal Group, which operates in both countries, submitted comments on the request indicating that there was no increase in imports per some changes in computation and thus the criterion was not met.
The commission determined upon a further assessment that the Jindal Group’s claim was incorrect. Jindal claimed in its response that the lower prices were due to lower, distorted raw material costs in countries of origin.