The Hindu Business Line : No dumping duty on gypsum plasterboard

THE Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has not found merit in recommending anti-dumping duty on imported gypsum plasterboard from Indonesia and Thailand.

Gypsum plastic board is primarily used as partitions, false ceilings for interior of buildings. Besides providing décor, it is a fireproof product.

In its final findings, the Authority held that gypsum plasterboard has been exported to India from subject countries below the normal value.

But the domestic industry has not suffered material injury and nor is there any threat of material injury from the imports of subject goods from those countries.

India Gypsum Ltd (IGL), Mumbai, having plants at Jind (Haryana) and Tiruvallur (Chennai) as a sole producer of the product under probe, filed a petition seeking imposition of anti-dumping duty on the imported gypsum plasterboard from the subject countries.

While elaborating the details of its investigation, the Authority said that the volume of dumped imports have increased during the period of investigation (January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003) in absolute terms as well as in relation to the demand for the product within the country.

The share of the dumped imports has gone up from 2.91 per cent to 5.96 per cent and the share of the domestic industry has come down from 96.98 per cent to 93.95 per cent.

However, as parameters to assess dumping such as production, capacity utilisation, sales have shown improvement and do not signify injury, the Authority maintained.

The Authority, however, said the magnitude of the margin of dumping has been found to be in the range of 34 per cent to 45 per cent based on the data of exporters who have partially cooperated. Even as this dumping margin is quite significant, the Authority found the net sales realisation of the domestic industry is above the non-injurious price (NIP) of the like domestic product.

Though the domestic industry may have been required to lower selling prices, they have been able to realise selling price above the non-injurious price.

The profitability of the industry in per unit sale of the subject goods has shown improvement, which was largely due to the cost reduction by the company following lower finance cost.

Responding to the contention of the threat of material injury by the domestic industry by imports, the Authority said that a determination of threat of material injury is to be based on facts and not merely on "allegation, conjecture or remote possibility".

The Authority is not convinced to conclude that threat is held out of the available capacities in subject countries that would be targeted to India alone.

As such the Authority does not countenance the claim of threat of material injury of domestic industry as "sustainable".

Interestingly one of the importing user industries Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd, Mumbai, said the quantity being imported from other countries is very nominal compared with the quantity being sold by the domestic industry.

The user industry further noted that the price at which gypsum boards are sold in India by IGL are much less than the price at which imported boards are being sold here.

The petition filed by IGL is aimed at creating a monopoly, which could result in escalation in the price of the subject goods to the customers, it is contended by the user industry importing the subject goods.

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