DGAD Initiates Dumping Investigation on Zeolite 4A (Detergent Grade) from China on Complaint of Gujarat Credo and Chemicals India

Initiation Notification Case No. (O.I.) 25/2017 dated 2 January 2018

Subject: Initiation of anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of “Zeolite 4A"(Detergent Grade) from China PR.

F. No. 6/14/2017-DGAD – M/s Gujarat Credo Mineral Industries Ltd and M/s Chemicals India (hereinafter referred to as petitioners) have filed an application/petition before the Designated Authority (hereinafter also referred to as the Authority) 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 Anti-Dumping 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 initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of anti-dumping duty concerning imports of Zeolite 4A (Detergent Grade) (hereinafter also referred to as ‘Zeolite’ or subject goods or product under consideration), originating in or exported from China PR (hereinafter also referred to as the subject country).

2. And whereas, the Authority prima facie finds that sufficient evidence of dumping of the subject goods, originating in or exported from the subject country, “injury” to the domestic industry and causal link between the alleged dumping and “injury” exist to justify initiation of an anti-dumping investigation; the Authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry in terms of Rule 5 of the Rules, to determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of antidumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to remove the “injury” to the domestic industry.

Domestic Industry & Standing

3. The application has been filed by M/s Gujarat Credo Mineral Industries Ltd and M/s Chemicals India.

4. As per the evidence available on record, the production of the applicant company constitutes “a major proportion” of the domestic production. The Authority, therefore, determines that the applicant company constitutes eligible domestic industry within the meaning of Rule 2 (b) of the Anti Dumping Rules and the application satisfies the criteria of standing in terms of Rule 5 (3) of the Rules supra.

Product under Consideration and Like Article

5. The product under consideration in the present petition is “Zeolite 4A (Detergent Grade)" also known as “Synthetic Zeolite 4A”. Zeolites are micro porous crystalline solids with well-defined structures. Generally, they contain silicon, aluminium and oxygen in their framework and cat-ions, water and/or other molecules within their pores. Many occur naturally as minerals, and are extensively mined in many parts of the world. Others are synthetic, and are made commercially for specific uses in various industries.

6. Petitioners are manufacturing Zeolite 4A (Detergent Grade) which is mainly used in detergents as a builder. The molecular structure of Zeolite-4A is given as: Na12[(AlO2)12(SiO2)12].27H2O].

Like Article

7. The applicant has claimed that there is no known difference between the subject goods exported from subject country and that produced by the domestic industry. As submitted by the applicant, the product under consideration produced by the domestic industry and such as physical & chemical characteristics, manufacturing process & technology, functions & uses, product specifications, pricing, distribution & marketing and tariff classification of the goods. Consumers can use and are using the two interchangeably. The applicant has further claimed that two are technically and commercially substitutable and, hence, should be treated as “like article” under the Rules. Therefore, for the purpose of the present investigation, the Authority treats the subject goods produced by the applicants in India as “Like Article” to the subject goods being imported from the subject country/territory.

Countries Involved

8. The present investigation is in respect of alleged dumping of the product under consideration from China PR.

Normal Value

9. The applicant has submitted that efforts were made to get information/evidence about cost and prices of subject goods in the domestic market of the subject country. In the absence of availability of reliable information in the public domain on domestic prices of the subject goods in the subject country, the Normal value in the subject country has been estimated on the basis of cost of production of the domestic industry for POI period. The estimation has been duly adjusted including selling, general and administrative expenses and profit.

Export Price

10. Petitioners have claimed export price as weighted average import price of the product under consideration. Price adjustments have been made on account of ocean freight, marine insurance, commission, port expenses, inland freight expenses and bank charges which may have been incurred by the exporter for exporting the material to India.

Dumping Margin

sufficient prima facie evidence that the normal value of the subject goods in the subject country is higher than the ex-factory export price, indicating that the subject goods are being dumped into the Indian market by the exporters from the subject country. The dumping margin is not only above de-Minimis, but also significant.

Injury and Causal Link

12. Information furnished by the applicant has been considered for assessment of injury to the domestic industry. The applicant has furnished evidence regarding the injury having taken place as a result of the alleged dumping in the form of increased volume of dumped imports in absolute terms and in relation to production and consumption, price undercutting, price underselling and consequent adverse impact in terms of decline in production, sales, market share, inventories. There is sufficient prima facie evidence of the “material injury” being suffered by the domestic industry caused by dumped imports from subject country to justify initiation of an antidumping investigation.

Period of Investigation

13. The petitioners have proposed the period April 2016 – March 2017 as the period of investigation in the petition. However, for enabling the Authority to make required analysis on the basis of more updated data, the Authority hereby determines the POI as April 2016 to June 2017 (15 Months). The injury investigation period will however, cover the data of previous three years, i.e. April 2013 - March 2014, April 2014 - March 2015, April 2015 – March 2016 and the proposed period of investigation

Submission of Information

14. The known producers and exporters in the subject country, the Government of the subject country through its embassy in India, the importers and users in India known to be concerned with the product are being addressed separately to submit relevant information in the form and manner prescribed and to make their views known to the Authority at the following address:

The Designated Authority,

Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce,

4th Floor, Jeevan Tara Building, 5 Parliament Street, New Delhi -110001.

15. Any other interested party may also make its submissions relevant to the investigation in the prescribed form (downloadable from the website of the Authority at (www.dgtr.gov.in) and manner prescribed within the time limit set out below.

Time Limit

16. Any information relating to the present investigation and any request for hearing should be sent in writing so as to reach the Authority at the address mentioned above not later than forty days (40 Days) from the date of publication of this Notification. 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 available on record in accordance with the Anti-dumping Rules. 17. 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 and offer their comments to the domestic industry’s application regarding the need to impose the Anti-dumping measures within 40 days from the date of initiation of this investigation.

17. Any information relating to the present investigation and any request for hearing should be sent in writing so as to reach the Authority at the address mentioned above not later than forty days (40 Days) from the date of publication of this Notification. 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 available on record in accordance with the Anti-Dumping Rules.

Submission of information on confidential/ Non-confidential basis

18. In case confidentiality is claimed on any part of the questionnaire's response/submissions, the same must be submitted in two separate sets (a) marked as Confidential (with title, index, number of pages, etc.) and (b) other set marked as Non Confidential (with title, index, number of pages, etc.). All the information supplied must be clearly marked as either "confidential" or "non-confidential" at the top of each page.

19. Information supplied without any confidential marking shall be treated as non- confidential and the Authority shall be at liberty to allow the other interested parties to inspect any such non-confidential information. Two (2) copies of the confidential version and five (05) copies of the non-confidential version must be submitted by all the interested parties.

20. For information claimed as confidential; 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 and/or why summarization of such information is not possible.

21. The non-confidential version is required to be a replica of the confidential version with the confidential information preferably indexed or blanked out /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, parties submitting the confidential information may indicate that such information is not susceptible to summarization; a statement of reasons why summarization is not possible must be provided to the satisfaction of the Authority.

22. The Authority may accept or reject the request for confidentiality on examination of the nature of the information submitted. If the Authority is satisfied that the request for confidentiality is not warranted or 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.

23. Any submission made without a meaningful non-confidential version thereof or without a good cause statement on the confidentiality claim may not be taken on record by the Authority. 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

24. In terms of rule 6(7) any interested party may inspect the public file containing non- confidential versions of the evidence submitted by other interested parties.

Non-cooperation

25. In case any interested party refuses access to and otherwise does not provide necessary information within a reasonable period, or significantly impedes the investigation, the Authority may declare such interested party as non-cooperative and record its findings on the basis of the facts available to it and make such recommendations to the Central Government as deemed fit.