Reliance Industries caught in diplomatic tussle between India & Saudi Arabia over anti-dumping duty on polypropylene

22 Jul 2011 Evaluate

India's lucrative polypropylene market dominated by Reliance Industries is occupying centre stage in diplomatic relations between India and Saudi Arabia as the oil-rich kingdom is mounting intense pressure on government to withdraw anti-dumping duty on the plastics raw material.  The issue will be on the agenda in bilateral talks in September, when Saudi Arabia is expected to strongly pitch for the withdrawal of the duty as the world's biggest oil exporter is eyeing markets for the giant petrochemicals plants it wants to build to diversify its oil-centric economy.
 
Reliance, Asia's biggest manufacturer of the key input for plastics, commands 70% market share in India with a capacity of 1 million tonnes and had successfully led the domestic industry's campaign for anti-dumping duty two years ago. Haldia Petrochemicals, which produces 3.2 lakh tonnes a year, also supports the levy. But Saudi Arabia resents this move and is relentlessly lobbying against it.  Import duty on polypropylene in China, the US, Euro Zone, Japan and Korea is 6.5%. While it is 5% in India. The anti-dumping duty that has been imposed is 1.5% - basically the duty differential between these countries and India. In dollar terms, 1.5% duty differential amounts to $20-22 per tonne; hence if the government raises the import duty to 6.5%, there would not be any requirement of anti-dumping.
 
The government is trying to tread cautiously. The issue was already under discussion and the Saudi Arabian ambassador. Reliance is also a large buyer of Saudi crude oil for its Jamnagar refinery and has cordial relations with Saudi authorities. Indian manufacturers complain that Saudi Arabia, with its enormous reserves of hydrocarbons, gives its petrochemical makers cheap feedstock, giving them an unfair advantage over India although the plastics industry is lobbying against the levy saying their input prices have risen sharply after anti-dumping duties.

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