India initiated countervailing duty investigation against primary foundry alloy ingots imports from Malaysia. Vedanta and Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) filed an application requesting the government to initiate a probe into subsidised imports of aluminium ingots from Malaysia. These ingots are used in the automobile and steel industry.
Both Vedanta and Balco have urged the government to slap CVD against Malaysia. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) issued a statement on Dec 24, stating initiation of a probe on this complaint. As per the procedure, DGTR will probe the extent of material injury, existence, degree and effect of alleged subsidisation. If established that subsidies in the country of origin are causing damages to domestic producers, DGTR will recommend an adequate countervailing duty to compensate for the injury caused.
DGTR has fixed the period of investigation from April 2019 to September (18 months). The investigation will also consider the data of 2016-2019.
Earlier, the trade directorate had recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty (ADD) on aluminium and zinc-coated (Galvalume) flat products originating from China, South Korea and Vietnam. DGTR recommended ADD of $14.30-$173.10/mt against 15 producers from these countries. The order came into effect in February this year.