Anti-dumping Duties Doubled during Peak Covid, WTO Report Shows

· 213 Anti-dumping Measures Launched in Covid period Compared to 118 a year Ago

But most nations went easy with new trade curbs

Countries, led by the US, India and China, doubled their use of anti-dumping measures in the pandemic period (July 2020-June 2021) against cheap inflow of certain goods, such as steel and chemicals, but most nations demonstrated restraint in the imposition of new trade restrictive measures related to the pandemic, numbers collated by a recent WTO report show.

Fall in demand

Experts say that the sharp increase in anti-dumping measures is mainly due to a fall in demand in the exporting country caused by the pandemic leading to unutilised capacities and lowering of export prices.

The WTO allows imposition of anti-dumping measures in the form of additional duties on items that are imported at prices lower than in the home country of the exporter. A country imposing anti-dumping duties has to also establish that the dumping of the item is causing injury to the domestic producers in the importing country.

In the July 2020-June 2021 period, the US imposed 59 anti-dumping measures, up from 29 a year ago, India imposed 32 up from 9 and China imposed 28 compared to 10 measures the year before, according to the WTO Director-General’s annual overview report on trade-related developments.

A total of 213 anti-dumping measures were imposed by all members in the July 2020-June 2021 period compared to 118 in the year-ago period. In 2020, a total of 433 remedial actions were initiated, which included 355 anti-dumping actions, and they were mostly in sectors including organic chemicals, iron and steel and plastics.

“The sharp increase in anti-dumping measures is surely emanating from the pandemic as it has created excess capacities in several sectors with falling demand. When there are huge unutilised capacities and demand takes a hit, prices go down and manufacturers tend to export their products at low prices,” explained FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai. Hence, it is easier to establish that dumping has taken place and take measures against it.

However, members have shown restraint in their use of new trade restrictive measures related to the pandemic during the review period and are supporting the recovery by continuing to roll back restrictions adopted earlier in the crisis, the report said.

As of mid-October 2021, 205 Covid-19-related trade facilitating measures with an estimated trade coverage of $112 billion are still in force compared to 56 trade-restrictive measures with an estimated trade coverage of $92 billion, it added.

Many economic support programmes for Covid relief have been phased out or adjusted to take into account new circumstances and to prepare for the post-pandemic recovery. “The monitoring of non-Covid-19 trade measures reveals that fewer restrictions were put in place during this period. However, the stockpile of previous trade restrictions remains large,” the report stated.