WTO Panel Faults US On Issue Of Dumping Duty On SAIL Steel

New Delhi, June 28: | Updated: Jun 29 2002, 05:30am hrs
A World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel announced on Friday that the US had acted inconsistently with the anti-dumping agreement by imposing an anti-dumping duty on cut-to-length plates manufactured by the Steel Authority of India.

The dispute settlement body (DSB) has recommended that the US bring this anti-dumping duty in conformity with the anti-dumping agreement of WTO.

In 1999, the US government had imposed a high anti-dumping duty on the import of CTL plates from SAIL. As soon as prices fell in mid-1998, SAIL unilaterally withdrew from the US market rather than export at low prices, according to a company statement.

Despite this, the US department of commerce initiated anti-dumping investigation on imports of CTL carbon steel plates from India, the statement adds. An anti-dumping duty of 72.49 per cent was imposed on SAIL. Since SAIL had exported steel plates at prices even higher than the ruling prices in the US market, the matter was taken up at the WTO. After consultations with the US at WTO, SAIL requested WTO for establishment of a panel to resolve the matter.

The WTO panel has concluded that US had acted inconsistently with the anti-dumping agreement by refusing to take into account the sale price information of SAIL plates in the US, submitted by the company and verified by the department of commerce. With this WTO recommendation, it is expected that the US would rework and reduce the antidumping duty imposed on SAIL plates.