EU decides to impose anti-dumping duties on Indian stainless steel fasteners

According to a comprehensive foreign news report, the European Union recently said that the Indian government’s subsidies to Indian companies exporting to the EU have caused damage to EU manufacturers and decided to impose an anti-dumping duty of up to 16.5% on screws and bolts originating in India. The anti-dumping tax rate ranges from 3.2% to 16.5%, depending on the Indian exporter. The anti-dumping duty is mainly for Indian stainless steel fastener companies, including India's Lakshmi Precision Screws Ltd. (LKPS). The EU said it had decided to impose a 13.6% anti-dumping duty on the company because it had trade-distorting subsidies. The European Commission said in its communique on Tuesday (February 11) that EU manufacturers such as Italy's Bontempi Vibo SpA and French Ugivis SA were "substantially harmed" by subsidies received by Indian competitors. The provisional anti-dumping duty was implemented on February 12 for a period of four months and may be extended to five years in the future. According to the European Commission, the share of Indian stainless steel fastener exporters in the EU market has expanded from 12.1% in 2008 to 18.3% today. On May 13, 2011, at the request of The European Industrial Fasteners Institute (EIFI), the European Commission conducted anti-dumping and countervailing investigations on stainless steel fasteners originating in India. Manufacturers represented by EIFI account for more than 25% of the EU's stainless steel fastener production. The European Commission said the trade protection measures were the preliminary results of last year's investigation. According to the European Commission's proposal, the EU government must decide within four months whether the current temporary anti-dumping duty is a final anti-dumping duty for five years. The final anti-dumping tax rate can be changed. When the European Commission initiated anti-dumping and countervailing investigations, it began an independent investigation to verify whether Indian stainless steel fastener exporters dumped in the EU market at a lower than normal price (so-called dumping). Starting from the European Commission's anti-dumping investigation, it will have nine months to decide whether to adopt temporary anti-dumping measures, and the governments of EU member states will also have 15 months to decide whether to implement the final anti-dumping measures. The EU took this anti-dumping measure, which happened to be less than two years after the end of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Indian stainless steel fasteners. In July 2010, the EU terminated its anti-dumping investigation against stainless steel fasteners originating in India and Malaysia and decided not to impose any anti-dumping duties.