Soda Industry Jointly Addresses Anti-Dumping Investigation in India

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry initiated an anti-dumping investigation on soda ash originating in or exported from China on August 20. The investigation period was April 2009 to March 2010. Recently, the reporter learned from the China Soda Industry Association that the association is currently liaising with related companies to jointly discuss countermeasures.

According to Wang Xiling, secretary general of the China Soda Industry Association, the Indian Customs decided on June 28th to continue to impose a 16% protection tax on soda ash originating in China, which will be levied on an ad valorem basis. The tax period will expire on April 19, 2011. This is a decision made by the Indian side after repeated submissions by our side involving Indian downstream users.

Later, on the application of the Indian Soda Industry Association, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India initiated an anti-dumping investigation on soda ash originating in or exported from China on August 20. It is understood that the products involved in this case are soda ash, including heavy and light soda ash. The product was initiated by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India at the end of 1999 to carry out anti-dumping investigations, and eventually imposed an anti-dumping duty ranging from 39.0% to 59.7% on China's relevant enterprise rulings.

Wang Xiling stated that according to the anti-dumping law of India, any company that exports the above products to India during the investigation period is a company involved in the case. Within 40 days after the filing of the case, all companies involved shall submit a questionnaire on market economy and an exporter/producer questionnaire to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India in accordance with the requirements for filing an announcement. For involved companies responding to the case, they all have the opportunity to obtain a separate tax rate based on the company's sales data, but if they do not participate in the anti-dumping investigation, India will be unilaterally ruled to impose the maximum amount of anti-dumping duties, and may result in forced in the next five years Exit the Indian market.

“As far as I know, the amount of soda ash that China exported to India has dropped sharply since the ** case occurred. Last year, China exported 280,000 to 290,000 tons of soda ash to India, and this year exports only tens of tons,” Wang Xiling said.