GPCA chief derides Anti-Dumping Duty on Polypropylene.

India’s move of levying anti-dumping duty on polypropylene imports from Saudi Arabia and Oman is something never witnessed before and also contravenes the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and regulations, Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, the Secretary General of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) said.

He said that, India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry while overlooking the feedstock cost borne by Saudi Arabia, has opted to devise its own set of approximations.

In spite of the fact that Saudi Arabia has a price mechanism that fully complies with the WTO rules and regulations, which was well established while admitting it to WTO in 2005, India has emerged with its own estimates which are pure exaggeration of the cost of production of polypropylene, the official said.

He further said that, such attitude of India has erroneously boosted up the actual price of feedstock, and that it is on the same approximations that the country has formulated its anti-dumping margins, he added. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) would take necessary actions like referring the matter to WTO’s dispute settlement machinery, to overcome the trade barrier.

The official asserted that, since India’s estimation methodology was erroneous and violating the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement and the WTO legislation on Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports would thus be annulled by WTO’s dispute settlement panel.

He underlined that the GCC region is no way involved in any sort of dumping activities either in India or elsewhere. Rather that, they are firmly inclined on enforcing their professional and moral obligations to the WTO and to whole of the world, he said.

Source : fibre2fashion.com