India denies fresh anti-dumping duties on Chinese products

India on Friday termed as “factually incorrect” a Chinese official media report claiming that it was planning to impose fresh anti-dumping duties this year on 93 products originating in China, saying they were already in force after decisions over a course of five years.

A report in the state-run China Daily on Friday said that India would this month impose anti-dumping duties on 93 products imported from China.

“Some recent media reports have mentioned that the Government of India is planning to impose anti-dumping duty on 93 products from China. These reports are factually incorrect,” the Indian Embassy here said in a statement.

The current situation is that anti-dumping duty is already in force on 93 products from China comprising of chemicals and petrochemicals, products of steel and other metals, fibres and yarn, machinery items, rubber or plastic products, electric and electronic items, consumer goods among others, it said.

The decision to impose anti-dumping duties on these 93 products originating in China were taken over a course of previous five years, it said.

Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday that India should refrain from abusing trade remedy measures, which would disrupt economic cooperation and bilateral trade relations.

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According to the ministry, India has launched 212 investigations against Chinese products since 1994 and 93 of them are still in progress.

So far this year, 13 investigations have been initiated, the China Daily quoted the ministry as saying.

The report said that India overtook the US in the first half of this year with the most trade remedy investigations against China.

China is paying close attention to trade investigations and hopes India would carry them out in a prudent way based on relevant regulations, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng was quoted as saying by the Daily.

“China and India are both BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) members with vast cooperation opportunities and should jointly maintain a free and open multilateral trading system,” Gao said.

“Instead of resorting to trade remedy measures and disrupting trade orders, the two countries can settle trade disputes through consultation and realise a win-win situation through expanded economic and trade cooperation,” he said.

Last month Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, who took part in the BRICS Commerce Ministers meeting in Shanghai, held “candid” talks with her Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan over the ballooning bilateral trade deficit which had crossed over USD 52 billion.

“The two Ministers exchanged views, in a candid manner, on further development of a strong, balanced and sustainable trade and investment partnership between India and China,” the Indian Consulate in Shanghai had said in a statement.

Sitharaman, in particular, sought the assistance of Chinese Commerce Ministry in reducing the trade deficit, facilitating greater market access and for providing a level-playing field for Indian IT, pharmaceuticals and agro products in China, it said.

India’s trade deficit with China in 2015-16 swelled to USD 52.68 billion, which according to Indian officials has become unsustainable.

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