The Supreme Court is looking at legalizing sports betting in India

The Supreme Court of India is considering whether sports betting and gambling could be allowed legally in India. Currently, online betting and gambling is outlawed and can attract a fine and imprisonment for individuals running a gambling house.

However, the state of Sikkim has issued online gambling licences in 2010 but only but over an intranet, blocking access from the rest of India. The state government of Sikkim has authorized four gaming and lottery licenses – to Sugal & Damani Group, Future Gaming Group and Essel Group’s Playwin and  Golden Gaming. Note that only three states allow casinos in India – Goa, Daman and Sikkim.

The SC said that it will take up the public interest litigation as part of reforms in Cricket and petitioners argued that the legalized betting and gambling in sports would curb match-fixing and generate revenue for the government. Currently, there are a number of websites offer bets on Cricket matches.

The BBC points out that there even though there are no online betting operators based out of India, a lot people have registered accounts with offshore firms and operators are using this to set up offshore betting companies.

How big is betting in India: The Federation of Indian Chambers and Commerce and Industry (FICCI) estimates the total turnover of the betting market at Rs 300,000 crores ($60bn). If the government caps the 20% of the profits generated by gambling, the government stands to gain Rs 12,000- Rs 19,000 crore.

US aluminum industry files dumping action against Chinese foil

The antidumping margins alleged by the domestic industry range from 38% to more than 134% of the value of the imported aluminum foil. The domestic industry's countervailing duty petition alleges that Chinese producers benefit from 27 separate government subsidy programs.

The petitions were filed concurrently with the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission and apply to aluminum foil that is used in a variety of consumer and industrial applications. These include household foil, flexible and semi-rigid cookware, product packaging, automotive and HVAC heat exchangers, among other common uses.

"This action is part of the industry's broad trade strategy to address Chinese overcapacity throughout the value chain," the association said in a statement. According to Heidi Brock, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association, this action -- the first time the Aluminum Association has filed unfair trade cases on behalf of its members in its nearly 85-year history -- "reflects both the intensive injury being suffered by US aluminum foil producers and also our commitment to ensuring that trade laws are enforced to create a level playing field for domestic producers."

Iran to abolish controls on iron ore

Iran is set to lift government controls on iron ore pricing in the domestic market, Tasnim News Agency reported Wednesday, citing the minister of economic affairs and finance, Ali Tayebnia.

Tayebnia was quoted as saying there was a large gap between domestic iron ore prices and international levels, which the government would address by amending the mechanism that determines prices for domestically produced ore.

Tayebnia also said pricing on the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) was based on supply and demand and was, therefore, an appropriate way to discover a practical, as well a clear, price for iron ore.

The IME said in January it would launch iron ore trading for the domestic market from February, though no trades of domestic ore have been reported.

Anti-dumping duty on some steel products from China

India has extended anti-dumping duty on some steel products from China by five years, in a bid to retain protectionist barriers and stem the tide of cheap foreign products.

The long-term measure, on the import of seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of iron, alloy or non-alloy steel, stands effective as of May 17 last year when the government had imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty, according to the circular.

Indian steelmakers such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel, and Steel Authority of India have lobbied for more measures to protect them from cheaper imports from China, Japan and South Korea.

US Finalizes Duties On More Chinese Steel Imports

On February 2, the US Department of Commerce announced its final decision to impose antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) margins on imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China.

Commerce confirmed final AD margins ranging from 63.86 percent to 76.64 percent on imports of the product from Chinese producers/exporters. It also determined final CVDs of between 75.60 percent and 190.71 percent on the same imports from China.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its final determination by March 20 this year. If the ITC makes an affirmative final determination that imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will then issue AD and CVD orders.

The United States imported about USD302m of the products from China in 2015. US producers contend that imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China increased by 133 percent between 2013 and that year.

Commerce's latest decision builds on the large number of trade disputes currently involving the US steel sector and imports from China. Other investigations include imports of cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel flat products, non-oriented electrical steel, and corrosion-resistant steel products. In addition, Commerce has begun, since the second half of last year, to impose very substantial CVD and AD margins on Chinese exporters that are far higher than those on other countries' exporters.

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source : tax-news

Iran to impose new duty on steel imports from September

The Iranian parliament has imposed a new duty on steel imports, likely to be effective from September this year, according to the ICANA news agency, which is affiliated to the parliament.

The duty is Iranian Rial 100,000/mt (about $25/mt) of imported material and will be imposed on all steel products during Iran's sixth development plan, running from 2017 to 2023. The duty will cover billet, beam, different strips, tubes, pipes, stainless steel and scrap.

The duty will be imposed in addition to all import taxes already in place and the funds raised from it will be used for the development of the country's national railway system.

The new duty will almost certainly cause an increase in production costs for downstream industries, said Amirhosein Kaveh, secretary of the Iranian Syndicate of Steel Pipe and Profile Manufacturers. There is already considerable pressure on the Iranian pipe industry at the moment and a part of capacity is idle as a result of a slump in demand and production costs.

The Iranian government is following a highly protective policy for the upstream steel industry and this has increased production costs for downstream users, Kaveh said. The new duty would mark the third increase in import costs since January 2016. He also said that the syndicate has asked the government to cancel this new duty.

At the moment import duties are at 15% for semi-finished products; 20- 26% for flat products (excluding stainless steel) and 26% for most long products, including I-beams and H-beams.

The import duty on scrap is 4%; the "lowest possible" according to Iranian customs.

Source : Platts

China's province Hebei to cut 31.86 mln tonnes of steel and iron capacity in 2017

China's biggest steelmaking province Hebei plans to slash 31.86 million tonnes of steel and ironmaking capacity for this year, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a provincial official as saying on Sunday.

Hebei, a province in the north of the country near the capital Beijing, accounts for nearly a quarter of China's total steel output and has pledged to cut steel capacity by 31.17 million tonnes by 2017 and by 49.13 million tonnes by 2020.

Xinhua reported Hebei provincial governor Zhang Qingwei as saying in a government work paper that Hebei is aiming to eliminate 15.62 million tonnes of steel capacity, 16.24 million tonnes of ironmaking capacity by the end of this year.

Hebei had cut 14.62 million tonnes of steel capacity by the end of October, achieving 2016's target of 14.22 million tonnes ahead of schedule.

Zhang also said four "zombie firms" in Heibei would be shut down this year. He did not specify which firms.

"(The) process of reducing all ironmaking and steel production capacity in cities of Langfang, Baoding and Zhangjiakou will be accelerated this year," Zhang was quoted as saying.

In addition, there are plans to cut 7.42 million tonnes of coal capacity, 1.1 million tonnes of cement capacity and an additional 5 million weight cases of flat glass in 2017.

Tangshan, China's biggest steel producing city, which is in Hebei province, aims to close 8.6 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2017, the local government said on Thursday, part of its efforts to "upgrade" its highly-polluting heavy industrial economy. 

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Source : Reuters