India imposes $146.09/tonne antidumping duty on US phenol

By Ajoy K Das

KOLKATA (ICIS)–India has decided to impose an antidumping duty (ADD) of $146.09/tonne on phenol imports from the US, a government official said on Tuesday.

The country’s Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has recommended the levying of the ADD after completing investigations on dumping complaints filed by two local producers – Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd (HOCL) and S I Group India Ltd, the official from the Ministry of Commerce said.

India’s Central Board of Customs and Excise (CBEC) is expected to issue a formal notification on the ADD implementation soon, the official said.

The DGAD probe completed on 5 March 2014 concluded that phenol imports from the US were “below their normal value and resulted in dumping and thereby caused material injury to domestic producers”, the official said.

India’s phenol imports from the US had steadily grown over the past three fiscal years – 46,571 tonnes in 2010-11; 50,258 tonnes in 2010-11; and 90,378 tonnes in 2012-13, according to data collated by DGAD. The country’s fiscal year ends in March.

In 2012-13, the share of US phenol to India’s total imports of the product stood at 56%, from 35% in 2011-12 and 39% in 2010-11.

In contrast, phenol sales of domestic producers showed a steady decline over the three-year period ending March 2013. Their sales totaled 63,712 tonnes in 2012-13; 67,361 tonnes in 2011-12; and 80,020 tonnes in 2010-11, with their market share shrinking to 28.7% at the end of the three-year period covered in the investigation, statistics from DGAD showed.

HOCL had sought protection from threats of cheap phenol imports, which, together with the company’s shortage of funds to  buy raw materials, had forced it to consider a permanent shutdown its phenol/acetone plant at Kerala in southern India.

Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections