EU begins to impose countervailing duties on Indian stainless steel fasteners

The European Union recently imposed a tax rate on the stainless steel fasteners imported from India ranging from 3.2 to 16.5% of the countervailing duty (CVD). Parallel ongoing anti-dumping investigations are still at a distance from the settlement. In May 2011, the European Commission launched an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation against Indian stainless steel fasteners (customs codes 73118210, 73118110, 73118530, 73118151, 73181561 and 73181750). On February 11, 2012, the European Union issued Regulation 115/2012 and decided to adopt a four-month temporary countervailing duty measure. Before this measure expires, the Executive Committee will have to announce the exact judgment result. All Indian exporters were awarded a 16.5% tax rate, with the exception of the following three companies: AgarwalFasteners (11.7%), Raajratna Ventures (13%), VirajProflles (3.2%), and cooperative non-extracting companies Kundan Industries and Lakshmi Precision Scifs (13.6%). In a complex survey, the Board considered that there were different scopes of subsidy mechanisms in the operation of the state and government levels. These different subsidies applied to each company determine the extent of the subsidy tax rate and the specific CVD ratio. The anti-subsidy investigation found that the import volume of related products grew by 65% ​​from 2008 to the survey period (April 2010 and March 2012), of which 24,073 tons were from India. At that time, Indian stainless steel fasteners accounted for 18.3% of the EU market and 12.1% in 2008. During the same period, the production of EU manufacturers fell from 46.5% in 2008 to 36.6%, while the employment rate of EU manufacturers fell by a quarter. Conversely, the EU's consumption of stainless steel fasteners rose by 9%. The Executive Committee concluded that the EU industry has suffered substantial damage, and this damage has a certain causal relationship with the impact of subsidized imports from India. The anti-dumping investigations to be confirmed in parallel have not yet been officially announced. It is reported that the Executive Committee has notified the relevant company at the end of January that it has not found sufficient persuasive evidence to prove that there is dumping, so it intends to terminate the anti-dumping investigation and impose anti-dumping duties. According to the survey report, there was no evidence of dumping by VirajProfiles Limited, which accounted for 87% of the EU's exports during the survey. Other Indian exporters were found to be dumping, but the market share of these companies in the EU market is not enough to cause damage to the EU industry. In the absence of causality, the Board informed the relevant company that it was unnecessary to implement anti-dumping measures and intended to cancel the investigation. The Board has notified the plaintiff and other relevant parties of the findings and collected comments from all parties before mid-March. If the anti-dumping case is determined to be terminated, it will represent a huge and painful blow to European stainless steel manufacturers, as these manufacturers have previously determined that the results of the investigation will prove that the increase in Indian tonnage and low prices is the main cause of damage. . On the other hand, the countervailing duty itself does not seem to have much impact on the current disadvantages of EU manufacturers.