The Indian Government’s Ministry of Commerce Department’s-Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recently notified that Mr. Sunil Kumar (Additional Secretary & Director General) will conduct an Oral Hearing on the imposition of Anti-Dumping duty on low ash met coke from China.
The hearing is expected to be conducted on 24 April 2019. Only interested parties will be allowed to attend the hearing and will be required to submit two copies of the written submissions of the views expressed at the hearing within a time schedule to be indicated on the date of the hearing.
Indian Metallurgical Coke Manufacturers Association, on behalf of the Indian domestic producers, namely, Saurashtra Fuels Pvt Ltd, Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd, Carbon Edge Industries Ltd, Bhatia Coke and Energy Ltd and Basudha Udyog Pvt Ltd had filed petition for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of anti-dumping duty on the imports of alleged dumping of Low Ash Metallurgical Coke, originating in or exported from Australia and China PR on 20th Oct’16.
Notably, the Central Government had imposed a duty of USD 25.20/MT on met coke from China and duty of USD 16.69/MT on met coke from Australia, through a notification dated 25 Nov’16.
However, the Indian Steel Association requested the government not to impose the duty as it would hamper the industry’s competitiveness, underscoring that steel prices would increase by at least INR 700-1,500/MT if the duty was imposed.
Similarly, the Indian Ferro Alloys Producers’ Association (IFAPA) had strongly opposed the imposition, stating that the anti-dumping duty is a major setback for the Ferroalloys sector, especially because the industry is also suffering from an increase in import duty on met coke to 5% from 2.5% introduced in the budget 2016-17.
Over the years, the met coke import offers have continued to rise owing to an upswing in the global coking coal prices.
Most importantly, in spite of the anti-dumping duty levied on met coke, it is still being imported in India from various countries, which is adding to the cost of the Ferroalloy and the steel industries, rendering the industry uncompetitive in global markets.
China is the largest importer of Met Coke for India has imported 2.0 MnT in FY18 and 1.8 MnT in FY19.
India’s total met coke imports have totaled 4.93 MnT in CY 2018, up 22.33% against 4.03 MnT of met coke imports in CY 2017, as per the vessel lineup data compiled by CoalMint Research.
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