EU Commission ends ferroalloy-tariff threat on India

The panel said while some imports from India were dumped, they weren’t necessarily the cause of ‘material injury’ suffered by the EU silicomanganese industry

The European Union ended a threat to impose tariffs on a ferroalloy from India, the latest in a series of trade measures favouring steel producers in Europe.

The European Commission closed a probe into whether Indian exporters of silicomanganese — used by EU steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal and Salzgitter AG — sold it in the 28-nation bloc below cost, a practice known as dumping. The commission said that while some imports from India were dumped, they weren’t necessarily the cause of “material injury” suffered by the European silicomanganese industry.

“Hardly any undercutting was found,” the commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said on Thursday in the Official Journal. “A causal link between the dumped imports and the injurious situation of the union industry could not be established.”

Indian exporters including Modern India Con-Cast Ltd. and Indsil Hydro Power and Manganese Ltd. have a combined 23% to 30% of the EU silicomanganese market, said the commission. The other major foreign suppliers of silicomanganese to the EU are Norway, Ukraine and South Africa, according to the commission.

Chinese steel

The decision against imposing anti-dumping duties on silicomanganese from India follows EU efforts to curb competition for European steel manufacturers by introducing or threatening to introduce more anti-dumping levies on steel from China. Overcapacity at Chinese mills, which account for about half of global steel production, has left European competitors clamoring for extra EU trade protection.

The probe covering silicomanganese from India was opened in December 2014 and stemmed from a dumping complaint by an association called Euroalliages on behalf of three EU silicomanganese manufacturers. In such investigations, the commission has nine months to decide whether to introduce provisional anti-dumping duties and 15 months to decide on any “definitive” five-year levies. In this case, no provisional measures were introduced.

Mr. Vinay Dalmia, representing Indian exporter of Ferroalloys thanks EU Commission for the patience hearing and arriving at the right decision in the interest of the Industries. Mr. Dalmia further mentioned that it was a great experience to deal with the Investigation team during their visit to India.