Anti dumping duty imposed on imports of phosphoric acid from Israel and Taiwan

India has imposed anti dumping duty on imports of phosphoric acid from Israel and Taiwan. The duty has been imposed for a period of five years and will be levied on all grades and concentrations of the acid, except for use in agriculture and fertiliser, as per the Department of Revenue.

Phosphoric acid is a chemical used in industrial applications as well as in medicines. It is also used in beverages, seed processing, sugar juice clarification, sugar refining and food phosphate manufacturing. However its cheap imports in India have raised concerns amongst Indian manufacturers. Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals, Baroda, had filed a petition seeking anti-dumping duty on the chemical.

Earlier, the Revenue Department had imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty for six months. However based on the final findings of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties, the revenue department has imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty for five years.

Typically a country initiates anti-dumping probes to check if their domestic industries are being hurt because of a surge in cheap, or below-normal-cost, imports. If found correct, the government goes ahead and imposes duties on them which makes them expensive and hence discourages their imports. These are different from safeguard duties that are levied in a uniform manner. Anti-dumping duties vary from product-to-product and country-to-country.