DGTR Initiates Investigation on Phenol from USA
and Thailand on Complaint of Deepak Phenolics, HOCL and SI Group India
·
Ntfn
43-ADD/30.09.2014 Expired on 29 September 2019
[Initiation
Notification (Case No. O.I.02/2020) dated 25.02.2020]
Subject:
Initiation of Anti-Dumping investigation concerning imports of “Phenol” originating
in or exported from Thailand and United States of America.
F. No. 6/3/2020-DGTR - 1. Deepak Phenolics Ltd., Hindustan Organics
Chemicals Ltd. and SI Group India Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter also referred to as the
“Applicants”) have filed a joint application before the Designated Authority (hereinafter
also referred to as the “Authority”), on behalf of domestic industry, in accordance
with the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 as amended from time to time (hereinafter also
referred to as the “Act”) and Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection
of Antidumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules,
1995
as amended from time to time (hereinafter also referred to as the “Rules”) for Anti-
dumping investigation on imports of “Phenol” (hereinafter also referred as “subject
goods” or “product under consideration” or “PUC") originating in or exported
from Thailand and United States of America (also referred to as “subject countries”).
2. The
Applicants have alleged dumping of the subject goods, originating in or exported
from the subject countries and consequent injury to the domestic industry, and has
requested for imposition of the anti-dumping duties on the import of the subject
goods originating in or exported from the subject countries.
Product
under consideration
3. The
product under consideration in the present investigation is “Phenol”. The product
is marketed in two forms i.e. bulk and packed. Bulk sales are normally in loose
form, whereas packed sales can be of much smaller container loads and are generally
packed in drums. Phenol is used in Phenol Formaldehyde Resins, Laminates, Plywood,
Particle Boards, Bisphenol-A, Alkyl Phenols, Pharmaceuticals, Diphenyl Oxide, etc.
4. This
product is classified under Customs Tariff heading no. 2907.11. The Customs classification
is, however, indicative only and in no way binding on the scope of the present investigation.
Like
Article
5. The
Applicants have claimed that the PUC, which is dumped into India, are like article
to the goods produced by the domestic industry and that there are no known differences
either in the technical specifications, quality, functions or end-uses of the alleged
dumped imports and the domestically produced goods manufactured by the Applicants.
The Authority notes that the two are prima facie technically and commercially substitutable
and, hence, should be treated as ‘like article’ under the Rules.
Domestic
industry
6. The
Application has been jointly filed by Deepak Phenolics Ltd., Hindustan Organics
Chemicals Ltd. and SI Group India Pvt. Ltd. Applicants account for 100% of Indian
production as there is no other producer of the subject goods in India, apart from
the Applicants. The Applicants have claimed that neither they have imported the
PUC from the subject countries in the period of investigation nor they are related
to any exporter or producer of PUC in the subject countries or any importer of the
PUC in India.
7. On
the basis of information available, the Authority is satisfied that the Application
has been made by or on behalf of the domestic industry in terms of the provisions
contained in Rule 2 (b) and Rule 5 (3) of the Rules.
Basis
for Alleged Dumping
Normal
value for Thailand and USA
8. The
Applicant has claimed normal value by considering the domestic prices in Thailand
and USA. For this purpose, the Applicants have relied upon reports by market research
agency, ICIS monthly bulletin for determination of normal value for Thailand and
USA. Appropriate adjustments have been made to bring the CFR prices available in
ICIS Reports to ex-factory level for appropriate comparison.
Export
price
9. The
Authority has computed the export price for subject goods for the subject countries
based on Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S)
transaction wise import data as well as their monthly published data. Adjustments
have been made for ocean freight, marine insurance, port expenses, commission and
inland freight.
10. The
normal value and the export price have been compared at ex-factory level, which
prima facie shows dumping margin, which is above the de-minimis, and is significant
in respect of the PUC from the subject countries. There is sufficient prima facie
evidence that the PUC from subject countries is being dumped into the Indian market
by the exporters from the subject countries.
Injury and Causal Link
11. Information
furnished by the Applicants has been considered for assessment of injury to the
domestic industry. The Applicants have furnished evidence regarding the injury resulting
from the alleged dumping of dumped imports during the Period of Investigation and
price depressing effect on domestic industry. The Applicants have claimed that as
a result of dumped imports of subject goods from subject countries, their performance
have been adversely impacted in respect of profits, cash profits and return on capital
employed. The Applicants have further claimed that they have suffered losses during
the Period of Investigation on account of dumped imports of subject goods from subject
countries. The Applicants have also claimed that there is a further threat of injury
to the domestic industry in view of significant capacities of subject goods in subject
countries and depressing effect of import prices on domestic selling prices. There
is sufficient prima facie evidence of injury being caused to the domestic industry
by dumped imports of subject goods from the subject countries.
Retrospective
imposition of duties
12. The
Applicants have requested for retrospective imposition of the antidumping duty by
claiming the following:
a. There
is clear history of dumping of the product in the country. Not only there is history
of dumping from USA and Thailand, but also from a number of other countries.
b. The
importers in India are aware of the fact that exporters practice dumping of Phenol
into India. The importers are also aware that such a practice would cause injury
to the Indian producers.
c. The
exporters have resorted to massive dumping is well established by the fact that
the dumping margin has remained significant on monthly basis during the period of
investigation.
d. The
performance of domestic industry has steeply declined over the period of investigation.
13. The
interested parties may offer their comments this regard as per time limit given
in para 22 of this notification.
Initiation
of Anti-Dumping Investigation
14. On
the basis of the duly substantiated written application by or on behalf of the domestic
industry, and having satisfied itself, on the basis of the prima facie evidence
submitted by the domestic industry, about dumping of the subject goods originating
in or exported from the subject countries, injury to the domestic industry and causal
link between such alleged dumping and injury, and in accordance with Section 9A
of the Act read with Rule 5 of the Rules, the Authority, hereby, initiates an investigation
to determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping in respect
of the subject goods originating in or exported from the subject countries and to
recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to
remove the injury to the domestic industry.
Subject
Countries
15. The
subject countries for the present investigation are Thailand and United States of
America.
Period
of Investigation (POI)
16. The
Applicants have proposed period of investigation from 1st June 2019 to 30th November
2019
(6 months). However, for enabling the Authority to make required analysis based
on more recent data, the Period of Investigation (hereinafter also referred to as
“POI”) in the present investigation is 1st July 2019 to 31st December 2019 (6 months).
The injury investigation period will cover the periods 1st April 2016- 30th March
2017, 1st April 2017- 30th March 2018, 1st April 2018- 30th June 2019 and the POI.
Procedure
17. Principles
as given in Rule 6 of the Rules will be followed for the present investigation.
Submission
of Information
18. The
exporters in the subject countries, their government through their embassies in
India, the importers and users in India known to be concerned with the subject goods
and the domestic industry are being informed separately to enable them to file all
the relevant information in the form and manner prescribed within the time-limit
set out below.
19. Any
other interested party may also make its submissions relevant to the investigation
in the prescribed form and manner within the time limit set out below.
20. The
information/ submission may be submitted to:
The Designated
Authority Directorate General of Trade Remedies Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Department of Commerce
4th Floor,
Jeevan Tara Building, 5 Parliament Street
New Delhi
– 110001
21. Any
party making any confidential submission before the Authority is required to make
a non- confidential version of the same available to the other parties
Time
Limit
22. Any
information relating to the present investigation should be sent in writing so as
to reach the Authority at the address mentioned above within thirty days from the
date of receipt of the notice as per Rule 6(4) of the Rules. It may, however, be
noted that in terms of explanation of the said sub rule, the notice calling for
information and other documents shall be deemed to have been received one week from
the date on which it was sent by the Designated Authority or transmitted to the
appropriate diplomatic representative of the exporting countries. If no information
is received within the prescribed time limit or the information received is incomplete,
the Authority may record its findings on the basis of the facts availa ble on record
in accordance with the Rules.
23. All
the interested parties are hereby advised to intimate their interest (including
the nature of interest) in the instant matter and file their questionnaire responses
within the above time limit.
Submission
of information on confidential basis
24. Any
party making any confidential submission or providing information on confidential
basis before the Authority, is required to simultaneously submit a non-confidential
version of the same in terms of Rule 7(2) of the Rules and the Trade Notices issued
in this regard. Failure to adhere to the above may lead to rejection of the response
/ submissions.
25. The
parties making any submission (including Appendices/Annexures attached thereto),
before the Authority including questionnaire response, are required to file the
same in two separate sets, in case "confidentiality" is claimed on any
part thereof:
i. one set marked as
Confidential (with title, number of pages, index, etc.), and
ii. the other set marked
as Non-Confidential (with title, number of pages, index, etc.).
26. The
“confidential” or “non-confidential” submissions must be clearly marked as “confidential”
or “non-confidential” at the top of each page. Any submission made without such
marking shall be treated as non-confidential by the Authority, and the Authority
shall be at liberty to allow the other interested parties to inspect such submissions.
Soft copies of both the versions will also be required to be submitted, along with
the hard copies in four (4) sets of each.
27. The
confidential version shall contain all information which is by nature confidential
and/or other information which the supplier of such information claims as confidential.
For information which are claimed to be confidential by nature or the information
on which confidentiality is claimed because of other reasons, the supplier of the
information is required to provide a good cause statement along with the supplied
information as to why such information cannot be disclosed.
28. The
non-confidential version is required to be a replica of the confidential version
with the confidential information preferably indexed or blanked out (in case indexation
is not feasible) and summarized depending upon the information on which confidentiality
is claimed. The non- confidential summary must be in sufficient detail to permit
a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information furnished on confidential
basis. However, in exceptional circumstances, the party submitting the confidential
information may indicate that such information is not susceptible to summary, and
a statement of reasons why summarization is not possible must be provided to the
satisfaction of the Authority.
29. The
Authority may accept or reject the request for confidentiality on examination of
the nature of the information submitted. If the Authority is satisfied the request
for confidentiality is not warranted or if the supplier of the information is either
unwilling to make the information public or to authorize its disclosure in generalized
or summary form, it may disregard such information.
30. Any
submission made without a meaningful non-confidential version thereof or without
good cause statement on the confidentiality claim shall not be taken on record by
the Authority.
31. The
Authority on being satisfied and accepting the need for confidentiality of the information
provided, shall not disclose it to any party without specific authorization of the
party providing such information.
Inspection
of Public File
32. In
terms of Rule 6(7) of the Rules, any interested party may inspect the public file
containing non-confidential version of the evidence submitted by other interested
parties.
Non-cooperation
33. In
case where an interested party refuses access to, or otherwise does not provide
necessary information within a reasonable period, or significantly impedes the investigation,
the Authority may record its findings on the basis of the facts available to it
and make such recommendations to the Central Government as deemed fit.