India mulls review of anti-dumping duty

Indian jute mill owners have implied that their domestic industry would suffer if their government does not continue anti-dumping duties on Bangladeshi jute products.

“Thanks to heavily subsidised operations of Bangladesh producers, jute exports from Bangladesh to India have been increasing, despite the anti-dumping duty,” said the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) in a statement dated May 5.

IJMA has contended that the Indian jute industry would have been completely wiped off by now, had the Indian government not imposed anti-dumping duty five years ago.

As such, the association urged the Indian government for continuing anti-dumping duties against exports from Bangladesh in jute products to protect their local businesses from cheap imports.

India imposed anti-dumping duty on Bangladeshi jute products ranging between US$19 and $352 per tonne, in January 2017 for a period of five years, which expired in January 2022.

Now that the term has come to an end, Indian jute mill owners have again requested a review of the anti-dumping duty for Bangladesh.

A sunset review investigation of the anti-dumping duty on jute imports from Bangladesh and Nepal was initiated earlier in June last year under the Indian customs tariff rules of 1995.

The sunset review is a process of extending the validity of anti-dumping duty for five more years through an investigation. The imposition of the anti-dumping duty has been seriously hampering the export of Bangladeshi jute goods to India.

Since the imposition of the duty, Bangladesh repeatedly tried at different levels, but India did not agree to lift it.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported roughly $138 million in jute and jute products to India in the first three-quarters of FY 2021-22, up from $103 million during the same period in the previous year (FY 2020-21).

Though export data revealed that jute and jute goods exports to India had increased, industry insiders claimed that raw jute accounted for about 40 per cent of the total.

“Exporting such large quantities of raw jute to India causes the domestic supply to fall, driving up its price in local markets, which in turn raises the production cost of jute goods that we export,” said Barik Khan, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Jute Mills Association.

“As such, on top of the anti-dumping duty, we hardly make any profit. The government cash incentive is the saving grace for us,” he added.

“Now if the government were to ban raw jute export to India, it would become cheaper in the local market due to a higher supply. Then, we could manufacture jute goods at lower prices and earn greater profits despite the anti-dumping duty,” he also added.

Esrat Jahan Chowdhury, director of the Bangladesh Jute Goods Exporters Association, said: “As our total import from India is valued at around $8 billion, it is illogical that the neighbouring country is currently reconsidering the anti-dumping duty.”