Tribunal upholds anti-dumping duties on Stainless Steel imports; Appellant's arguments dismissed

The Tribunal upheld the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Hot Rolled Flat Products of Stainless steel imported from Malaysia, China PR, and Korea RP. The appellant's arguments regarding de-minimis imports from Malaysia and violation of natural justice were dismissed. The Tribunal found the imposition of duties justified based on the verification of data and rejected the plea to consider post-POI import data. The appeal was rejected, and the judgment was pronounced on 09.09.2016.

---

---

Issues:
Challenge to imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports from Malaysia based on de-minimis import volume and violation of natural justice.

Analysis:
The case involves an appeal against the imposition of anti-dumping duty on Hot Rolled Flat Products of Stainless steel imported from Malaysia. The Designated Authority (DA) recommended the imposition of anti-dumping duties on goods imported from China PR, Korea RP, and Malaysia. The Ministry of Finance issued a notification imposing specific anti-dumping duties on the subject goods from these countries. The appellant contested the imposition of duties, arguing that the import volume from Malaysia was de-minimis, constituting only 3.59% of total imports during the Period of Investigation (POI). The appellant claimed that the DA did not disclose crucial data, leading to a violation of natural justice. Additionally, it was argued that imports from Malaysia were too insignificant to cause injury to the Domestic Industry (DI).

The Domestic Industry supported the imposition of anti-dumping duty, highlighting the verification of data from various sources by the DA. The Designated Authority and Revenue supported the findings, refuting the appellant's claim of de-minimis imports from Malaysia. The DA terminated the investigation if the import value from a particular country accounted for less than 3% of the total imports, which was not the case during the POI for Malaysia. The DA examined the issue of 'country of origin' extensively, considering the ASEAN-India FTA Agreement and possible misdeclaration of origin to avail preferential duty. The DA rejected the appellant's arguments, stating that individual treatment could not be granted for determining the dumping margin.

The construction of normal value in Malaysia was based on international prices of raw materials and efficient conversion of goods, with reasonable profit considered. The Tribunal's decision in a previous case was deemed inapplicable to the present case, as the normal value was determined based on data from the Domestic Industry due to non-cooperation from Malaysian exporters. The appellant's plea to consider post-POI import data was rejected, as the POI data indicated imports above 3%.

After thorough consideration, the Tribunal found no merit in the appeal and upheld the imposition of anti-dumping duties. The appeal was consequently rejected, and the judgment was pronounced on 09.09.2016.

---